


A Promise of Dragons

by Sookiestark



Series: The One Where Jaime Rescues the Princess [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Flashbacks, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2018-12-09 15:26:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11671863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sookiestark/pseuds/Sookiestark
Summary: What if Jaime saved Rhaenys from King's Landing and made his way to Dorne? What would happen next? Jaime is newly re-inspired to fufill his promise to protect Rhaegar's son until he is old enough to rule. What would stay the same? What would change? Will Jaime be a good father? Will he still succumb to Cersei? Will he keep his honor or trade it for Jon's throne?





	1. A Father's Permission- part two - King’s Landing 299 AC

**Author's Note:**

> You don't have to read Part One to understand this story. The first chapter pretty much explains it.
> 
> I know it would probably make sense for the Kingsguard to take Lyanna and her son to exile in Essos, but who wants to go to Essos. So, let's see if this works out. I think this will be relatively light-hearted, so don't take it too seriously. Oh, yeah-- it will go back and forth between the past and now (299 AC).
> 
>  
> 
> ..

Jaime Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, Warden of the West, is awaiting a visit in the Red Keep, by a Lord Selwyn Tarth, the Evenstar. It is night, as Lord Tarth had requested, and Jaime awaits him in his private solar, away from the court’s eyes. After all, this meeting needed to be in secret for Lord Tarth’s safety. There is a war and Lord Tarth’s liege lord fights against the King on the Iron Throne. 

It has been sixteen years, since he has talked with Lord Tarth. Sixteen years ago, he talked with him in Lord Tarth’s solar in the night, secretly and at great peril. Jaime tries to remember if he has spoken with him since then. He might have, but he cannot remember.

It was not that he did not like Lord Tarth. He barely knew him. Jaime had made a promise all those years back that he would not speak of Lord Tarth’s gallantry or kindness in helping him make his way across the Stormlands with the Princess in his care. He never has spoken of it, except to one person, in all these years. Selwyn of Tarth had requested his secrecy and Jaime honored it. 

Sixteen years had passed quicker than he had expected. Keeping a child’s throne safe for him had been a difficult task that had kept him busy. In the mirror in his chambers, he had noticed the grey hair at his temples and started to think he should cut his hair shorter, as his father had. 

In his recollection of the years, he could think of Tarth very little. He remembered when Daenerys learned to walk in the garden, he had heard the new Lord of the Driftmark speak of Lord Tarth’s heir drowning. Jaime had picked Daenerys up and asked him. “I heard you speak of Tarth.. Lord Tarth’s heir is dead? What has happened to the boy?”  
“He drowned while swimming, but it happened almost a year pass, my Lord.. Do you know the Evenstar?”

“No.. but it is sad to hear of one losing a child.”

Lord Monford Velaryon was too polite to say he had not spoken that the heir to Tarth was eight years when he passed. If Ser Jaime Lannister wished to keep secrets, let the Oathbreaker keep them.

Jaime had walked into the Red Keep with Daenerys in his arms and with Rhaenys’ hand in his, and he kept his thoughts to himself. 

When the Tourney to celebrate the King’s tenth birthday was held at Highgarden, knights and Lords came from all over to take place in the events and celebrate the King’s tenth nameday. In the lists, Jaime had seen Lord Mikkah Mertyn of Mistwood name and went to watch him in the joust. He asked about him and found he was well married to a cousin for several years. Ser Mikkah Mertyn was unremarkable and Jaime found himself aching to enter the lists. But he had promises to keep, so he did not.

Over a year ago, Brienne of Tarth had come to King’s Landing with Renly Baratheon, in his service, newly knighted. He remembered her beating Ser Loras at the Tourney to celebrate the Wedding of Renly to the Princess. It had been a good fight and Jaime had laughed loudly when she had knocked Loras on his ass. Brienne had taken the crown and named Princess Rhaenys, the Queen of Love and Beauty. 

He had been glad to see her in the yard and had sparred with her himself once. She was a strong and able warrior. He had Ser Lyle Crakehall, the Master-at Arms of the Red Keep allow her to train and learn what she could. Ser Lyle teased him about having a soft spot for girls with swords. Jaime had laughed, having known him since they were boys, and agreed adding a bawdy spin on girls with a taste for swords. 

It was good to see her big face around the Red Keep and when they had escaped from Harrenhal, she had been steadfast and a true warrior. 

Lord Jaime Lannister has not gotten used to being the Lord of Casterly Rock. His father has only been dead for three months and he still expects that people are talking to his father when they use all his titles. He is also still called Oathbreaker, though people seem to whisper this as he leaves the room. They dare not say this to his face. He is all the stepfather to the King. 

His father they called the Kingmaker.

Jaime has had food set out, red meat, warm bread, cheese, roasted vegetables, even though the hour is late. He wants very much for Lord Tarth to be comfortable and know his gratitude. 

When the Evenstar walks in, Jaime speaks in his warm tone, “Lord Selwyn Tarth.. it has been a very long time. How are you?” 

“We both know why I am here.”

“I know you have come to get your daughter. I have been keeping her in the Maidenvault, for her safety. It has been a punishment that has not been lost on her.”

“My daughter is a good knight and loved Lord Renly. I know what the people say but she did not harm him.” 

“So I have been told, Brienne the Blue, the Maid of Tarth..She looks like you.” 

“Unfortunately, she does. More than is seemly.”

“She is taller than her aunt and Melissa could look me in the eye.”

Selwyn smiles remembering his sister but says nothing. Jaime hands him a glass of wine and motions towards the food.

Selwyn speaks, after drinking deeply from the glass. “I buried her on a cliff overlooking the sea. I thought she would like that. I thought about burying Galladon next to her but I couldn’t bear to bury him outside Evenhall. “

“I was sorry to hear of his death... Brienne reminds me very little of her Aunt. There are no kittens in her pockets, no prayer books, no stories of knights and their lady loves.” 

“My Lord, it is my fault for sure. I didn’t raise her gentle like a girl should. I never remarried and it was her and I most of her life.”

Jaime thinks of his wife, five years dead and how she would hold their children and hug and kiss them. Cerielle and Tyland cannot remember their mother at all. Perhaps he needs a wife to mother them. He can hear his beautiful dead wife’s laugh ring in his ears. “No one will replace me. No one can.” She said to him, joking as the fever and the loss of blood took her. 

She was afraid at the end and had said she did not want to die. Finally, he had felt they were in agreement. He had not wanted her to leave him. 

He remembered the morning and how the sun shone fiercely through the windows. “Promise me,” she had begged, “Jaime, promise me.” 

He had promised her, but he had only done it to calm her. After all, she had a the best Maesters and midwifes in Westeros. She had given birth to five children before Tyland. But she had died her hand in his and the smell of blood and roses in the brightest morning he could remember in years. Lyanna Stark Targaryen Lannister left the world with the name of her children on her lips. 

Jaime continued, “You did a fine job. She is an excellent knight.”

“I have come to ask about the promise you gave me all those years ago. I would like you to honor the debt of a favor. My daughter didn’t kill Lord Renly. Help her and let me take her back to Tarth. She is my heir and I need to marry her to a nobleman.” 

“Lord Tarth, if it hadn’t have been for you, I would not be here and neither would the Princess Rhaenys. I would gladly give you what you ask. Brienne and I had over a fortnight behind enemy lines making our way back to King’s Landing and I have come to appreciate her. I find that I have a question to ask you, but first, your favor is granted Brienne will be released, no charges. Rhaenys has said the shadow looked like Stannis. Lady Catelyn Stark has risen to her defense. She is free to go..”

“My thanks. What is the question and I will leave you to your night?” 

“I would like to ask you for your daughter’s hand.. I mean to make her my wife.. With your permission, of course..”


	2. Proposal part one  Starfall 283 AC

This was the White Bull’s idea, not his. Oswell Whent went awkwardly in Lyanna’s room to tell her of the plan, while Jaime waited in the hallway and looked out the window at the river. Lyanna and Oswell had grown close since their time at the Tower of Joy. They would often joke and he had been told when Lyanna refused to eat, Oswell could get a few bites in her. 

Jamie would have thought she would have been soft on Arthur with his silver blond hair and his violet eyes. Dayne could pass for a bigger, stronger version of Rhaegar, but she would rarely look at him and she never spoke to Ser Arthur. Oswell’s dark humor had appealed to her is all that Dayne had said of it on Jaime’s first night after reuniting with them. Ser Oswell Whent had been the one to take her on walks, the one who would let her practice archery, even after the accident, the one who would pick berries for her to eat as she watched the Northern horizon and waited for Rhaegar or a raven. He was the only one who could make her smile was what Jamie had learned; it was natural for Ser Oswell to tell her the news. 

Whent is like honey in a vile tasting medicine. He sweetens her to the taste of a Lannister. 

Jaime waited looking out a window in the hallway at Starfall. There was a sense of anticipation, like before a battle, though Jaime had never been in a battle, not a real battle. He was sure this tension outside her chamber must feel the same as a before a battle. He did not mean to listen but he found himself drawn to the voices behind the door. He could not hear what was being said but Lady Lyanna did not sound happy with the news. 

Jaime had met with Ser Gerold Hightower the night that the King was born, which was shortly after they had arrived in Starfall. It had been a difficult trip. What might have been a one day ride had turned into three days with a wagon and a very pregnant woman. The last hours of the journey her time had come, and though she tried to be stoic and fearless, the idea of giving birth in wagon in a field outside Starfall was too much. She started having trouble breathing and panic settled around her eyes. 

The Lord Commander only focused on getting her to safety, almost embarrassed about the fact she had decided to go into labor while they were on a road. Ser Daynel had ridden ahead to make sure things would be ready for her. Ser Whent had tied his horse to the wagon and climbed beside her in the wagon and they had spoken about their journey to the Tower of Joy, the Tourney of Harrenhal, the Riverlands and Rhaegar. It was touching and Jaime had felt awkward watching them laugh and smile. Soon, the fear had dimmed from her eyes and when she laughed, Jaime found himself smiling. Lyanna had an infectious laugh.

When they had arrived at Starfall, she had been rushed to her chamber. Whent and Dayne had gone to protect the baby. 

Not long after they had arrived, the baby had come, a healthy baby boy, a new King. The mother was doing fine. Lord Commander Gerold Hightower had called for him after to tell him of his plan. Ser Hightower spoke to him sternly. In fact, sometimes the White Bull reminded him of his father. He reminded him that he was the man who had put the white cloak on him in the first place.”

Jaime had replied softly, “Ser, I have not forgotten.”

“I have talked to Dayne and Whent. King Aerys died under your watch, as did Prince Aegon. However, you were outmatched and at least saved the Princess. Against all odds, you got her to her uncles in Dorne. I have many questions about what happened in those weeks that King’s Landing fell to the Usurper, but someday we will have time for words. Now is a time for action. We have the element of surprise and we must use it to our advantage.” 

Jaime hesitated and wondered if he should tell him what he did and the role he played in Aerys’ death. He had meant to tell them and take whatever punishment they would choose, but as the days of his return turned into a week, Aerys and his death seemed further and further away . It was almost as if he had never done it. Perhaps, no one knew. Perhaps, no one ever would. 

“You are the newest member of the Kingsguard and there were many things unusual about your time as a member of the Kingsguard.. I blame it on your age and lack of supervision. King Aerys kept you in that throne room and perhaps you needed more instruction and supervision on the Kingsguard.”

Jaime kept his face still but inside, his stomach turned. Unusual, he thought. The Mad King kept him as a hostage, constantly at his side, to show him what he could do to him, if his father ever disobeyed. 

“I have been thinking for months what might happen when the King was born and now that he is here we must keep him alive.” Gerold continued.

“Yes, ser.”

“We will go and swear our swords to him, but first, I want to ask you something.”

“Yes, Lord Commander.”

“Do you want our new King to survive, as the last living son of Rhaegar Targaryen, Protector of the Realm and King of the Seven Kingdoms?”

“Yes, ser. I swore to the Prince I would protect his wife and children. I gave my word and I meant it.”

“Perhaps, the new King does not need your sword, but he may need your House.”

Jaime looked at the man, confused at the words he spoke.

Ser Gerold continued, “We have the armies of Dorne and the Reach, but they are bruised from fighting. There are many Houses from the Crownlands and the Riverlands, who might be persuaded to fight for Rhaegar’s son, but again all these forces are depleted. There is one army who has done no fighting and it is the second biggest army in Westeros, who has one of the best tactician in the Seven Kingdoms as its Commander, whose keep sits on a literal gold mine.” 

“My father..? Why would my father fight against Robert? There is talk that he hopes to marry my sister to him.” 

Jaime’s throat tightened uncomfortably when he imagined Robert and Cersei at their wedding feast and the wedding bed. Speaking the words felt like betrayal but he knew how much she had always desired to be queen. His thoughts kept going back to the night, where she promised them they would always be together. How quickly did she forget the words of her undying love to him when her father proposed she marry the Usurper? 

“If you were to marry the King’s mother, you would be the stepfather to the King. The King would have a great love for Lannisters.”

“But I have swore to never marry when I took my Oath to be in the Kingsguard.”

“Son, if we don’t have your father’s army, there will be no way we can fight for the throne. Will you have us go to Essos and try to raise an army in exile like Bittersteel and the Blackfyres? This boy is Rhaegar’s son to a highborn lady, who he married in front of the Faith of the Seven. Not a bastard or a rebel. A babe his age probably wouldn’t make the journey across the Narrow sea alive.” 

“So, you would have me break my oath, turn in my white cloak, ask my father to sponsor us, raise the banners and fight. What of my honor?”

“What is better, your honor or the King’s life? You said yourself you promised Prince Rhaegar..”

Jaime was silent, frustrated but unsure how to speak his irritation. He wished he was better with words but they were his weakness. 

“She is a lovely girl. In a month or two, she will be well enough to marry and bed. You can put a son in her in no time.”  
Jaime looked at him. He tried to be discreet with his anger but he could hear it dripping from his words. “Has anyone talked to her about this? What if she won’t have me?”

Hightower almost laughed, “What are her options? She needs this for her son, more than anyone. History will not speak kindly of her, if we do not win the war and write the history. What do you think Robert might do if he finds her like this with a baby and grieving Rhaegar? Elia and Aegon’s end would probably seem gentle.”

At this point, Jaime fights the urge to touch his sword. Silently, he wishes Ser Hightower to choke on his laughter. This is the man who told him not to judge the King for burning innocent men alive, for raping his wife, but he would have him turn in his cloak and be an oath breaker for all his days so that they don’t have to fight too hard.. Perhaps, Jaime has too much honor to be in the Kingsguard and allow the King to do as he pleases, right or wrong. If the boy is given to madness like Targaryens are, he would have a better chance at tempering it as his step-father, than he would as a silent Kingsguard. 

“Are you so sure my father will support us? I am not so sure.”

“The Great Lion will support us. He has chafed since you joined the Kingsguard. You returning to your rightful place as Heir to Casterly Rock, wedded to a woman, who can give birth to sons is all he wants.” 

“My father has my brother to be his heir.”

Gerold laughed, “I cannot suffer fools and you are being foolish. The whole court knows your brother is part demon, twisted and unnatural. Tywin would fight several wars to have you back. You are the golden boy, son. You are all the prize he needs.”

Jaime feels his throat tighten, as tight as the noose. He realizes he does not like the Lord Commander very much and if he was anyone else, this conversation would have ended. But if he ends this conversation, there will be consequences. Consequences he is not willing to pay. He needs to learn diplomacy and patience, if he means to play this game for sixteen years. He wonders how angry Cersei would be to find out he had married Lyanna, Rhaegar’s widow, and would kill her husband, Robert, and take the throne back for the rightful ruler. He wished to see her face when he ruined her plans. It was as if there was a war inside him. Part of him wanted to lash out and hurt her for being so careless with his love. The other part knew he would forgive her, if she asked him. No matter how cruel or careless she was. He always did.

This hateful man wants the same as him; he wants Jaehaerys on the throne. He is not your enemy. Allow him to speak and think you are a boy and a pawn. When all is safe, debts can be paid. 

“If Lyanna consents to it, I will gladly do it. I am a faithful subject and the honor would be mine, Ser.”

“Yes, it would.” The Lord Commander says dismissing him with a wave. 

 

Ser Oswell Whent comes out of her chamber and says she wants to see him alone in her chamber.

“Ser, I do not know you well. Yet there is talk of a wedding..”

“I know, my Lad… your Grace.”

“Gods, is that what I am.?”

“Certainly, you will be if we succeed.”

She laughs sadly. “We are sure he is dead…? It is certain that Rhaegar fell…” 

“I am sorry for your loss, your Grace but yes, he is. Jon Arryn burned him like his Targaryen fathers before him. With Aerys, his father, and Aegon, his son. All on the same pyre. Or so I heard..” 

She is quiet. Jaime thinks she will cry, but she doesn’t. Instead, the King stirs angrily in his cradle, crying. “Could you help me, ser?”

He rises quickly and gently picks up the dark haired babe and places him carefully in her arms. She rocks him, almost instinctively. 

Jaime speaks as he watches her, “It is for his safety I do this... his and his sister’s.”

“I heard how you rescued her out of the Red Keep and in disguise fled with her to Dorne. Are you the bravest man alive?” Her voice is teasing him, playful.

He looks in her eyes and he sees the interest. For a second, they could be at a dance, in the garden at a keep. Not in her bedchamber with the infant King. Distractedly, he wonders if there is a garden in Winterfell where she was raised. He imagines no garden, only wild ancient forests filled with monsters from old. 

He smiles, “Two babies cannot keep themselves safe until they are old enough to rule. We must make alliances to keep them safe. There is much at stake..”

“You were the one who made us leave the Tower of Joy, in that wagon?”

“Not I… Not truly. I think Oswell’s voice was the loudest. I only agreed strongly. Really, the Lord Commander made the decision, though I think he was afraid if we didn't leave he might have had to deliver the baby. Imagine how dirty his White Cloak would be after that..”.”

Jaime laughs and Lyanna laughs with him. Her eyes sparkle. It is a small victory to tease Ser Hightower. It is a bigger victory to make her laugh. He is the second person she has laughed with..  
“I was glad to get out of that Tower. There were days I thought I would never be allowed to walk free again. I do not think I will care to see another mountain in a very long time. I was glad that we had a Maester and we are in a Keep. I feel safer. The Daynes are Ser Arthur’s house. I know how devoted he was to Rhaegar. I would only feel safer in Winterfell.” 

“I promise to keep you safe. We might be strangers, but we have a common purpose and that is more than most marriages have to start.” 

She kisses her son’s forehead. “I am grateful to you ser.”

“What have you decided to name him?” The King is barely a few days old. 

“Jaehaerys. After Rhaegar’s grandfather and Jaehaerys the Wise. We could use a wise and just King to rule a peaceful kingdom for a long time.”

“So we are to have Jaehaerys III...They have sent ravens to Dorne and Hightower goes to the Reach, When you are well, we will get you a wheelhouse and get you to Highgarden. We have sent ravens to Dragonstone to tell the Queen of her son’s heir and his rightful claim to the throne over Viserys. I will meet with my father and if he approves, I will send word. We will need to raise the army. There is more.. There is word that your brother is looking for you.” 

“Brandon?” She says it quickly. The words fly out faster than she remembers, but immediately she bites the bottom lip in punishment for not remembering before speaking. 

“I believe Eddard Stark is en route to Starfall. I do not think he will give up. Ser Hightower will kill him and all his men, if he poses a threat. But I think he is a man who loves his sister and wouldn’t want harm to come to her and I have told Hightower such. What do you think, my lady?”

“Ser, please don’t hurt him. Ned is good and fair and serious. He is worried for me and perhaps someone should worry for me. He means no threat and he seeks to find a lost sister.”

“He will find much more than a sister. Perhaps, you should have sent word sooner.”

She looks at him hurt at the truth of his words, but says nothing, so he continues.

“When our plan was to flee to Essos, perhaps we could have made enemies with the North. Now that our plans are different, we will approach things more diplomatically.”

“Ser, why are you so willing to do this?”

“I get to marry the mother to my King and bring him the terrifying support and troops of my father. Oh yes.. And I get to be heir to Casterly Rock, which is filled with gold and is impenetrable.. All I have to do is give up my white cloak and honor and not be killed..”

He laughs, but it sounds angry. He hopes all this is not to spite Cersei, but to help the King and Princess. However he is unsure and the uncertainty makes him doubt his intentions. 

She takes his hand and he sits on the bed beside her. Lyanna looks at him and her night dress has fallen off one of her shoulders. Her eyes are huge watery pools of grey which he could drown in. Surely, he could see sitting on her bed why a war was waged over this woman. Or could he?

He asks her before he loses courage, “Will you, Lyanna?”

She smiles, tilting her head, “Will I what?”

“Marry me? I promise I will do all I can to make sure Jaehaerys has a throne and Seven Kingdoms to rule, all the gold and armies I have are his. I promise I will try to help him be as wise and good as his namesakes. I give my life, my house, my honor for him and his sister to have their birthright that was taken from them. I promise you my name, my life, and all I have until my dying breath …”  
“Yes.” she says squeezing his hand, but he sees the tears in her eyes. Jaehaerys begins to cry and Jaime says goodnight and leaves quickly, before either of them have to mention the tears that she is crying.


	3. A Father's Permission Part One 283 AC

It is almost a month later before he is able to meet with his father. He dreads it as much as anything he has had to do so far. Jaime knows he is not the kind of man who over thinks things. In fact, his nature is given to action. Do the deed and ruminate the consequences later. So, thinking about this meeting and what he will say to his father has stretched him. 

They approach his camp in the growing darkness. Ser Oswell Whent has ridden with him for protection and support. They both wear their white cloaks. He rarely wears it now but for this meeting, it is necessary.

Lyanna is still a mystery to him. On the ship from Starfall to Highgarden, they rarely spoke, but since arriving in Highgarden, they spend an hour in the gardens at Highgarden everyday. It is entirely the doing of Lady Tyrell. Everyday Alerie Tyrell arranges a time for them to be alone in the gardens. Alerie is a lovely woman who sees Lyanna as a romantic figure, who gave everything away for her love. Only women in the Reach will see her as that. 

Jaime knows how his father will see her a wilful woman who defied her duty and her father for silly notions. Tywin would talk of how her sadness is her punishment for her disobedience to her father. Her family’s suffering is her payment. Lyanna has started to laugh at his jokes and smile when she sees him but her sadness is palatable like the fruit of the trees in the garden, rounded and heavy. It weighs everything down between them. Even here in a place where there is only happiness and pleasure, there is so much sadness in her. 

Jaime had wanted to connect with her. If they could connect, it would make this easier for him. Usually, it was easy for him to connect to people. Jaime Lannister was charming, funny, good natured. Naturally, women were drawn to him. In fact, often he was the one who was uninterested. Cersei had demanded his unwavering devotion and he had seen what happened to the girls he paid a little too much attention to when Cersei heard. It was easier on everyone if he kept his devotion entirely to Cersei. He still thought about Cersei frequently but it seemed to lessen everyday.

Instead, Jaime would think of the hour in the garden with Lyanna or if she came to dinner in the Great Hall. Whether she came to dinner or ate it in her rooms, everyday they had their hour in the garden. 

More often than not, he would come to find her in the godswood. She was drawn to the three weirwoods in the center. At Highgarden, they called them the Three Singers. Jaime had asked some why they were called that and no one seemed to know. On the last day in the gardens, Wylla, the King’s wet nurse from Starfall, had come to take the baby and had left them a fireplum. She had told them that the fireplums at Highgarden were the best in Westeros. Lyanna had watched her take Jaehaerys longingly. Away he went with Ser Dayne, Wylla and her lady-in- waiting, Ashara Dayne. 

Lyanna was like him more than she knew. He saw how people were drawn to her, how she was given to acting before thinking, how funny and charismatic she was. Somehow, he couldn’t understand how to connect with her.  
They ate a fireplum in the garden. Neither of them had tasted a fireplum. It was a first for both of them. It was large purple skinned fruit with a pinkish flesh to the inside. Lyanna had handed him half and taken the first bite, Jaime followed. It was sweet and slightly tart, with a hint of spice like a cinnamon. He hums in contentment and munches happily around the pit. Silently, they each ate their half in the sweetness of the fruit. Smiling as he remembers how she sucked the juice off her fingertips and absently wiped some fruit from his face. It was as if he already was her husband with such a simple intimate gesture. 

Before he rode away, she had come to say goodbye. He had taken the King in his hands, as he did everyday. After all, he was his stepfather and would be the only father the boy would know. Jaime likes the feel of fatherhood. He likes the soft warm weight of children and he misses Rhaenys curled next to him. He hopes she is fine and well in Dorne. Jaime takes him one last time before he rides to his father. Jaehaerys tries to hold his head still and focus on things, like the shiny silver clip that holds his white cloak. Jaehaerys is intent and serious.  
“Look.. he is trying to hold his head up. When he can sit by himself, we will get him a pony.” Jaime says this thinking of how he will teach him to ride like his Uncle Gerold taught him. Lyanna laughs at this and takes the baby. “Come back and teach him to ride.”

He looks at her and she seems afraid at his leaving. “I will be back soon.” he says to her. He wonders if he should kiss her cheek or her hand but he doesn’t know so he climbs on his horse and rides. 

Jaime meets his father at several leagues outside House Roxtons Keep The Ring. They are on the border of the Reach and the Westerlands. It has been the closest he has been home in years. with Ser Oswell Whent. His father has brought several hundred men. It worries him to see so many men. It is a risky move, meeting him here. His sister’s betrothal is still not announced, so it is possible that his father’s spies have been watching The Usurper has not given up looking for Lyanna. He is definitely out played here, but he does not do this for himself. He does this for his tiny King in a cradle at Highgarden. 

He has Dorne, the Reach, the North with what good they are to him. The Reach has always been strong allies to the Targaryens and a promise that the King will wed Mace Tyrell’s newly born daughter has sealed the deal. He has no idea what Tully might do. But he knows if he wins his father, they will win. 

All he must do is win his father. The only thing he has to offer is himself.

Tywin Lannister was sitting at a table waiting for him eating chicken in his tent of red and gold. 

Jaime bowed stiffly, “Father”  
Tywin motioned for him to sit. A serving girl brought a plate of food and poured him some wine and left them to speak alone. His father speaks first, “I heard that you have made yourself invaluable to the Princess Rhaenys Targaryen.”

“I took vows to protect her and she was entrusted to my care. Prince Rhaegar asked me to look after his children. Be glad she was or I might have died fighting the men who killed Elia. It was only for her sake I fled.” 

His father looked up at him, as he ate chicken from the bone. “It was unfortunate Princess Elia was killed. I had wanted her returned safely to the Martells. Her death was unnecessary. I have sent men out looking for you Jaime. It has been months and you sent no word.”

“I am sorry that I have not been able to speak with you sooner, Father. I am sure you were worried. I did not mean to worry you. I come to you with my apologies and a request. I have found a highborn lady from a Great House. I will give up my white cloak and be the heir to Casterly Rock. I made my oath to Aerys II who no longer sits on the throne. I want to marry her and together we will give you heirs, a whole pride of Lannisters. 

“Who is this woman?”

“Lyanna Stark... Targaryen…

His father’s brow went up.  
“Targaryen?”  
“The mother of the King…the wife of late Prince Rhaegar.”

“What you speak of is dangerous-- Robert believes her to be his betrothed. What have you gotten yourself into?”  
“I have fallen in love. It is merely luck that she is the mother to the King. Think of it father. You will be grandfather to the King. My children will be his brothers.. all I need from you is the support of the Westerlands and your guidance.

“Robert has offered to marry your sister and put the Stark girl aside.” 

“True - that is tempting and you might think no blood will be spilled that way. No matter what happens there will be more war. Prince Rhaegar had a son with his wife and he is alive. This way, I am your heir again. Surely, Casterly Rock would be in a great position.. especially since neither Lyanna or myself have experience ruling. If you marry Cersei to Robert, I disappear to Essos to raise the children in exile, or worse, I pledge myself to Dorne. This way, you call the banners and we overthrow Robert and put the rightful king on the throne.” 

“What if I kill Ser Whent out there, send a raven to Robert, telling him of this infant and hold you at Casterly Rock until you come to your senses?..”

“I understand that you might do that but eventually you will release me and I will take the Black or throw myself from my bedroom window into the sea.”

 

“How do you know Rhaegar married her? Is there proof?”

We have the papers signed by the Septon, as well as the testimony of Ser Whent and Ser Dayne.”  
“Who stands with this infant King?”  
“I have Dorne, the Reach, the North, a few houses in the Riverlands. I would prefer you with me..”

“The baby, is he well made?”

“Father, he is a fine and healthy babe.”

“And the mother- is she well?”

“She is ..”

“Have you had her checked? She is not damaged. She will be able to have more children.. You are certain?” 

“She is fine. It was a difficult birth but they say she will be able to have more children” 

“There will need to be regents. A council like Aegon III had..”

Soon, his father is quiet with a quill in his hand and maps, scattered before him. The chicken is forgotten on the table, where Jaime sits. Jaime feels cast off and that he has traded something invaluable. His father looks up from his dynastic dreams and machinations and smiles a small smile. Somehow it is terrible and makes Jaime both slightly sick and slightly proud. “Jaime, you have my blessing. I will raise the banners. I will meet in you Highgarden in a moon for your wedding and then we march.”

Jaime leaves quickly. He leaves the white robe on his father’s table with the chicken. “Father. I will need armor fitting the heir to Casterly Rock and I will need a red Lannister cloak to put around my bride.”

And then he flees into the darkness. He wastes no time and riding back to Highgarden, looking over his shoulder, looking like something is coming for him.


	4. A Proposal part 2 299 AC. King's Landing

He wakes in the bright morning light of the struggling sun of autumn with winter coming soon. He yawns, stretches and calls for the Master of Coin and his good friend, Ser Wade Wythers. Wade comes to his solar. It is still early. He has called his family together to eat breakfast, so he can tell them the news together. But he would like to talk to Wade first.

Wade was his squire for seven years. When he was sixteen, Jaime had sent him to the Citadel. Wade had stayed to the Citadel for two years and forged himself half a dozen links. There was talk that he could be an Archmaester. Good clever Wade. But Wade had come back to King’s Landing, homesick and said he would rather be Jaime’s squire again than spend another day in the Citadel. Lyanna had said that Wade was as much a part of their family as any of their own children and to let him stay. Wade was eighteen and too old to be a squire. Jaime thought about letting him but he skills weren’t swordfighting. 

Oberyn Martell, part of Jaehaerys regency council and Master of Laws, had seen the talent the boy had with numbers and languages and sent him to the Iron Bank under the tutelage of a banker he knew in Braavos, who owed him a debt. Oberyn had laughed about how he couldn’t let a hero of the greatest rescue in a hundred years fall into obscurity. “The boy will do the realm good with his mind.” Oberyn had said to him as they watched the ship sail into the horizon toward Braavos.

Lyanna hadn’t spoken to Jaime for a week. She had just found out she was pregnant with their youngest. After two days of her anger, he had snuggled close to her on the second night and kissed her neck. “Do you want me to go to Braavos and collect him? I will..”

She had rolled over to look at him but the fires were out and he could not see her face at all in the darkness, “Why did you send him away?”

“Wade is the eldest son of a poor second or third cousin of Lord Wythers. He has no hope to inherit anything; he is too far down the line. He must make his own way in the world. He will do it with his mind because he cannot do it with a sword. He has to learn and I can’t teach him. “

“Couldn’t you just give him a small keep in the westerlands or better yet, nearby..?”

“I could but what will he learn? He has been a squire for years. Let him see the world and learn how to live without Lannisters and Targaryens.”

Lyanna grew quiet against him. He could feel her thinking of an argument. “Why should he get that privilege? Neither you nor I had it.”

He laughed and she kissed him.   
“Wade has been with us since the beginning,” she had said “Ashara and Oswell are gone. All we have left is Ser Arthur now. “

“We have Jon and we have each other. “

“Soon you will send Jason to be fostered.” 

“Probably we should. Maybe the Marbrands or the Plumms. Since he will be Lord to Casterly Rock, he should be fostered in the westerlands. Or else we could send him North to your brother.” 

“I don't want the children fostered out. It is too far.”

He smiled in her hair and pulled her close. She had only started to show her pregnancy and he rubbed her belly. “Wait and see, Lyanna. Jason is only eight. It will be years before we foster him.”

She died in childbirth the next year. Jason never did get fostered. But Jared went to the Marbrands when he was 11.

 

Wade had stayed in Braavos for three years, writing letters full of homesick tales, full of strange characters and customs. Jaime would write back and Lyanna would send packages across the sea every six months. 

Three years ago, Wade Wythers stepped back into King’s Landing dressed in brocaded black silk with rings on his fingers. He had grown tall and with his big blue eyes and tan cut a striking figure on the docks. His ears were still big but he let his hair grow long and it covered them. He could speak five languages and knew complicated math from Old Valyria and further east. Once, he had tried to explain it to Jaime, after drinking too much wine with Tyrion. Jaime had laughed out loud at how smart Wade had become and how foolish it all sounded. 

Wade was twenty-one and eager to show how worthwhile he was and how much he had learned. Immediately, he started arguing with Tywin that the crown needed to start spending money on bridges and roads and demanding that each kingdom have at least two charters for new cities. His solar was filled with various boxes and bottles of herbs, colors, stones and papers everywhere. He had started several businesses in King’s Landing, including a clock making shop, several tapestry and loom shops, as well as a mill to make paper from trees. He had become a patron of several artists and encouraged other lords and rich merchants to do the same. He was filled with ideas, new inventions. He would often be found talking with tradesmen and had gears and machines throughout his rooms. Everything Wade touched seemed to prosper.

The only thing that Wade didn’t prosper at was love. He had had his heart broken a few years back and refused to talk about any marriage contracts. At twenty-five, Wade seemed like he might be a confirmed bachelor. Some were beginning to say he perhaps didn’t like the company of women. Jaime knew he liked women just fine, but that he liked one in particular and if he couldn’t have her, he would prefer no one. He had opened a mill with the Manderly’s and often was in drunken debates with Oberyn and Tyrion. Often, they would encourage him to go to the brothels but he had no part in the brothels. 

When the Master of the Coin had become open recently, Jaehaerys had acted wisely with nominating Wade to the position. Wade had taken his position seriously and with his strange propositions and ideas, had started making money for the realm. Wade comes into his solar with his hands in his pockets of his blue tunic. He is eating an apple and he has a spyglass in his hand. Absently, he looks in one end and then the other. 

Jaime clears his throat. Wade looks at him and smiles. “Good day, my Lord. I just got this new spyglass from Myr and I have been talking to some shipmasters from the Driftmark and Sunspear.. I think we should try our hand at these things. I think I need to..”

“Wade, I called you here because we need to discuss some things, not spyglasses.”

 

“Of course, my Lord. You know how I get.. Distracted. I have the papers you wanted..He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a scroll. There is evidence from the exiting waters that there is still gold in the mines of Castamere and that perhaps there are precious stones as well. The river has been rerouted and I will make sure we can drain it.”

Wade hands him the scroll. Jaime unrolls it and scans the words, smiling. “Good. We will worry about draining it after this battle. I leave you in the charge of my brother. While you are in the city, you will do all you can to protect my children. I would send them to Casterly Rock but it is not safe and the foreigners brought the plague with them. The small folk that threw flowers at the False Dragon a few months ago are dying covered in shit today.”

“My Lord, I would protect your children with my own life, but we have no reason to fear. King Jaehaerys III will defeat him.”  
“You remember the way out through the Red Keep that we took years ago. Practice it. Keep the little ones close. Don’t let Rohanne go to the sept and pray. It would be to hard to get to her if the worst happens. I am sure they will fight us there and attack King’s Landing, as well. They would be foolish not too. Tyrion will have the City Watch and we will leave what men we can.”

“I could fight with him. I was trained by the best.”

“Gods, no. Wade, you are a good man and are the best of us, but a fighter you are not, and we will need your brain to rebuild, if the worst happens. You will take the children. If Danaerys will go, take her and the dragons, but she will be stubborn. If she refuses to go, leave her. Take Margery and my children on the fastest ship you have and get to the Rock. If you don’t think you will be able to get there, get to the Reach or White Harbor. Don’t go to Dragonstone. Don’t go to Dorne. If something should happen to me, Tyrion will be in charge of the children until their maturity. If something happens to Tyrion, you will be their charge. Jaehaerys will sign all the documents, so that they are official. ”

“Jaime, you are making me worried. Are things are grim as you are making them?”

“We were here the last time King’s Landing was sacked by a rebel force. It never goes well for the ruling family. 

“Rhaenys is his wife. Surely, he would show mercy to her family.”

“We have had no true letters from her. For all we know, she is his wife on paper but really his prisoner.”

“Do you think he has hurt her?” The is rear anger behind is words and concern. Wade had never been one to be quick to anger, so it was unusual and made Jaime look up from the scroll.

“Rhaenys is key to him sitting on the Iron Throne. Her life is not in danger but I do not know about the rest of her. She can be defiant and I can’t imagine her a passive victim. I am sure he has had to use some force..”

Wade looked worried and his face started having deep worry lines. “We must rescue her. I must do something.”

“Wade, when we win the battle, they will release her. Soon. Some better news.. I am getting married either tomorrow or the day after.”

“Are you mad? That big woman knight? Brienne from Renly’s ridiculous Rainbow Guard? The one you came back with?

“Her name is Brienne. Brienne of Tarth. I don’t think she is an actual knight... No I don’t think I am mad. Nothing goes better with a battle than a wedding before it. It is all Ser Gerold Hightower’s fault. He gave me the taste for a wedding before a battle.”

“I must say, I find Brienne intriguing figure and she is loyal to the core. But I would not think she is your type of lady.”

“Wade, what would be my type ?”

“Beautiful, complicated, smart, difficult, loyal, sword wielding. Though the sword part seems to fit…”

“Brienne is all those things.”

Wade looked at him for a minute or two quietly blinking and then laughed gently. “My Lord, you are right as usual. I am sure you will be very happy.”

“We will go to breakfast and I will tell the King, the royal family, and my children of my plans. Then I will go ask my bride..”

********

Jaime goes to the Maidenvault to find the prisoner he is looking for. He put her here as a joke but Rhaenys was the one who would have found it the funniest and she had been gone three months. He wished to talk to her. Every morning, he would partake of breakfast with the royal family and his children. There were many mornings that Jon would not come or Danaerys or his own children, but Rhaenys always came. Even after she had been married, he would find her seated next to him eating fruit or bread and laughing. For fifteen years, they ate breakfast together in the morning, every morning.

That was how they found she had been taken because she hadn't come to breakfast. Jaehaerys had gone to her rooms to find her. Tyrion had expected she had hurt herself or taken a lover to her bed and overslept. They had found the guards dead and a struggle and she had been gone.

That was the day they had found his father and Uncle Kevan dead. They had received the messenger a fortnight later of how Aegon had taken her and married her. He had sent men into the Red Keep through the passages and tunnels to kidnap her and take her to Harrenhal. In the letter, he spoke of how deeply in love they were and with his sister wife by his side they were the true Targaryens.

 

“Lady Brienne..”

“Ser Jaime, I mean Lord Lannister.” 

“Call me Jaime,” he says   
She looks him in the eyes, “Ser Jaime.” 

He speaks, “Do you remember when we were lost and I told you that I knew you secretly wished for someone to be strong enough to best you, to hold you and make you feel small? To tear your clothes from you?”

“Yes,” she looks at the floor uncomfortable  
“I told you many things those weeks... I was teasing you trying to shame you. I was angry and I wanted to hurt someone and you were the only person I was near. I am sorry.”

She says, “There is no need to apologize.” 

He walks toward her in that simple blue dress. She looks strange in a dress like they were never meant for her. Perhaps, he should send Rohanne and Sansa to teach her how to walk and talk in one. The truth is he does not care if she wears a dress or not. 

She does not back away but she is afraid, not of him hurting her physically, but of hurting her on the inside which is much more than a broken bone and takes more to heal.

He is close enough to kiss her. There are only inches between them and her eyes roam to the door to the window but always they come back to his lips. He has come to know that this is a sign that she wants him to kiss her. “I am the man strong enough to hold you and tear your clothes off while you tremble. I am strong enough to best you in the yard and win your hand. But I want to be sure. Tell me that you want me to .. Tell me that you would like this.. I have come to free you. Your father came to me the other night secretly and in great peril to ask me to free you. I said I would but I also asked him for your hand in marriage. He was glad to give it to me. I know the condition of your marriage suitors. I must best you in combat. I was thinking perhaps tomorrow. In the yard. I march to battle soon and I would very much like you to be the Lady of Casterly Rock before I leave you.”

He comes close to her. “Tell me you don’t want me and I will leave because I once married a woman who did not want me.”

She is trembling. He wants to push her on the bed and slip his knee between her legs and kiss her until she rubs herself against him unwittingly. He wants her wild and unthinking though he thinks that might take a considerable amount of work because Brienne is always lost in her head. Unless she is fighting. He wonders what noises she might make in bed and he thinks about all the things he would like to try. 

“What happened with your first wife?”

“Worry not about Lyanna. I used all my talents and won her heart after a time. But we were married for many reasons and none of them had to do with the heart or desire. I want you to want me as much as she did not when we are married. Tell me you want me to challenge you.” 

Her face was red and she seemed drowning in shame. “Yes,” was what she said.  
Smiling wickedly, he leaned in closer, so that he could whisper.. “Tell me you want me to best you.”

She looked in his eyes and he waited for her to say yes. He licks his lips in anticipation. She whispers back to him, “You can try.”

He was half hard when he took her scarred cheek in his hand and kissed her lips. He laughs. She disarms him even with her words. “Come my lady. We must get you a sword for tomorrow. I want you to be well prepared and fight at full force. I might be a Lannister but I have fought hard for everything I have and everyone I love. I don't want this to be any different ”

 

***********

He finds the King in the Godswood, near the hearts tree, an ancient oak. Jaime never comes here except once a year to honor his dead wife. But Jon has always been drawn here. Jon was the nickname for Jaehaerys. Lyanna’s brother, Benjen had given it to him, stating a boy that looked completely Northern seemed strange to be saddled with a Valyrian name. He had smile and said he looked like a Jon. Lyanna would bring Jon and Jason here to the godswood and sing Northern songs and tell terrible stories of the Wall and the monsters beyond the Wall. He would tease her that if she kept it up their sons would all be in black and bound to the Night’s Watch. 

“We will just make more,” she would laugh. 

Beneath the heart’s tree is the tiny weirwood that Jaime planted here ten years ago. He had brought the pod from the weirwood tree at Casterly Rock. 

Lyanna had laughed at him and said the Children of the Forest and the First Men had magic, so that the roots would catch and the weirwood tree would grow. She had told him that no one had been able to get a pod to grow to a tree in centuries. He had laughed with her and said indignantly “I have blood of the First Men in me. Who knows, Wife? Perhaps, I will paint myself green and sacrifice squirrels beneath the moon. My secrets are my own.” 

He had planted it in the earth and whispered to it . A few months later, she had brought him here to show him the seedling, smiling in amazement. She had been pregnant, and one hand had rested protectively on her stomach, while the other touched one of the bright red leaves. He thinks it was Jared she was carrying.

“What had you done husband? What did you say to it?”

“Oh Lyanna, I have as much blood of the First Men as you and I will not tell my pagan secrets.” He had teased her back, but in honesty, he was as amazed as she that it had grown. 

 

He wished Jaehaerys would laugh more, would be content, would be playful. Sometimes, Margery could make him smile with her joyful nature. However, the dark clouds of his unsure throne and his long regency had cast a long shadow over the boy and his kingdom. Still, he was only sixteen and surely he should have more joy. 

“Your Grace, it is early to be brooding.”  
Jaehaerys smiles at him and moves over on the bench to allow Jaime to sit. Behind him, Ser Dayne waits quietly.

“There is much to think about. We are in the midst of a war or have you forgotten.” 

“Is there more word from the False Dragon and his troops?” 

“They run rampant over the riverlands and the stormlands. The False Dragon has set up in Harrenhal. They say this false Aegon has a Targaryen look, like Viserys, all silver haired and purple eyed. Perhaps he is real.. And Rhaenys is his happy wife now. Perhaps she knows he is her brother. Perhaps they are happy. Like Targaryens.”

“There are hundreds of whores all over Essos who have the Targaryen look. He could be anyone, not necessarily your older brother. I was there and I don’t think he survived. Rhaenys is not a happy bride. Her letters are few and say nothing of her heart or the truth. If they were true, she would let us know by a sign.” 

“This Aegon has made a deal with the Greyjoys. They fight for him or with him. They have invaded the North, as they do the coasts of the westerlands and the Reach.. They have taken Moat Cailin and Winterfell. Robb is taking the North men back to retake the North.”

“Before the battle? He will not be there to ride out with you.”

“No. He must go home and take Winterfell back. The men won’t stand with him while the North bleeds. He is stopping by the Twins for Edmure Tully’s wedding to the Frey girl.”

“The one he was betrothed too..?”

Jaehaerys looked at him to see if he was baiting him. “Yes.” 

Jaime touches his King’s leg, the King who he has raised as if he was his own son. “We will win whether the North fights with us or not. Since we are on the subject of weddings and you did not come to breakfast, I want to discuss something with you. My marriage... . “

“Your marriage?”  
“Yes, your Grace, my marriage. You are my King but I have decided that I need a wife.”  
“Who?” Jaehaerys has a big smile and he has hugs Jaime. Looking in his face, he sees Lyanna and Rhaegar both. He forgets how much he misses them.

“Brienne of Tarth.”  
Jon looks at him quizzically and smiles even bigger than before. “This is good news. When?”

“Well, she has this rule that she will only accept a suitor who can beat her in combat. I am hoping to best her tomorrow. Perhaps the day after. Margery wants a feast with jugglers and several courses, but I want a small simple affair. After all, we ride out for war in a few days. Who has energy to plan a feast? ”

Jon is laughing and for this moment, all is well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be Lyanna and Jaime's wedding... I think we will stay in the past for a few chapters so that it doesn't get too confusing.


	5. Wedding Day- Dawn Part One 284 AC

Lyanna and Jaime are married at Highgarden. Before the troops marched, they had three days. 

Mark Ryswell wakes him in the dark predawn. Lyanna asked to be married in the godswood before the larger ceremony in the sept. “It is important to me..” she had said shyly when she had asked. Jaime was happy to get married surrounded by trees, if that made this less awkward. It was an easy kindness that required little from him. Mark Ryswell has come to make sure he is up. He will walk with him there and wait with him by the weirwoods.. 

Jaime hasn’t been sleeping well because of nightmares, nightmares of Rhaegar with a bloody hole in his chest, screaming about how he failed his first wife and son and he will fail the second ones. He wonders himself if he is ready to shoulder the responsibility. He also has dreams of Aerys screaming, “Burn them all..” He wonders where the other pyromancers are now. When he gets back to King’s Landing, Jaime will find the other two and kill them, like he did Rossart. 

Mark Ryswell is a good man who Jamie likes a great deal. Ryswell is good with a horse and decent with a sword. Since Highgarden is built mostly for leisure, he has often found himself riding or sparring with him. Though sometimes his Northern views of honor get prickly, and Jaime likes to tease him about his beard and Northern dress, Ryswell is quick with a joke and smile and has a heart of a true knight, whether knighted or not, Jaime finds all these things make for an easy friendship between them.

Ryswell and Martin Cassell stayed behind when when Lord Stark sailed North from Starfall. They stayed back to make sure Lyanna is safe. If Ned could have tied her up and thrown her in the ship to take her home in the North, Jaime thinks he might have. But even stiff Lord Stark knew his sister had lost her place in the North with her actions. She was the mother of the King, whether she had intended that or not, and she belonged in King’s Landing now.   
Mark wakes him early and they go down to the godswood as the dawn is beginning to break. He likes the look of the sky and the smell of the wet garden in expectation of morning. If he was a man given to superstitions, he would say it was a good sign.

Ashara Dayne holds Jaehaerys by the foot of the middle of the Three Sisters. Arthur stands behind his sister and his King. Silent and silver haired, he is a constant reminder to Jaime of the vows he breaks being here and of the vows he keeps still. He looks similiar to Rhaegar, they could be cousins. Ser Arthur Dayne, the man who knighted him years ago, drank with him last night and told him that Jaime may no longer be a Kingsguard, but he was still keeping his vow to protect the King. 

“If your father was Tywin Lannister, would you do I what I do?” Jaime had asked him

“My father is not..”

“No, but if he was, would you marry Lyanna and break your vow..?”

Ser Arthur’s face was unreadable but his voice sounded tense and as if it could crack, “If it will get Rhaegar’s son the throne, I would do what was necessary.” 

 

Lyanna has waited watching the Mander for her brother Benjen on a ship, watching for a raven of his coming approach. Before Ned left Starfall, he had sent a raven to Winterfell to have Benjen come and stay with Lyanna. It is the only thing she had wanted. Jaime did not think Benjen would make it here in time and it seems that he has not. He hopes she is not too disappointed.

Lady Alerie Tyrell was excited to have a Northern wedding in her garden, even if it was only for a few. She has decorated the path with rose petals of white and strung the trees with ribbons of red with white and silver sparkling crystals. There are small finely wrought torches in the shape of wolves, lions, and roses that follow the path and encircle the tree. 

Ashara looks at him and smiles, as she rocks the baby. She has been with them since Starfall. On the day that Eddard Stark left with his men. Lyanna and Jaime walked the stairs to see Ned Stark departure down the Torrentine and back to Winterfell. Ship was the fastest way he could get to Winterfell and call the banners. Jaime half wonders if Lord Stark might just stop in King’s Landing and tell Robert. He did not trust him, though Lyanna seemed devoted to him. He reminded himself that her brother would not wage a war and travel across Westeros to betray her. Or would he?

When they had reached the top of Palestone Tower, they had found the beautiful Ashara Dayne on the ledge of the white stone tower, holding to the frame. She was meaning to throw herself into the river below.  
Jaime found himself grabbing his sword, sensing the danger but did not know what could be done. Lyanna, on the other hand, had slowly approached her.

“Lady Ashara, come down from the window.”

She turned to see who was there. Her beautiful eyes were red from crying and her hair fell round her face. “He is leaving and all is lost. I could not keep him..”

Lyanna spoke softly. “He did his duty, but all is not lost. Allyria is here and she would miss you.. As would your brothers.”

Ashara looked at Lyanna, “What do you know of my sister? He leaves me to go back to his wife and I am ruined.”

“I cannot begin to know your pain, but I know a little about loss and grief, about hopelessness, about watching the man you love ride away, never to return.” 

At this point, she pulled up her sleeves and there on her long thin wrists were angry red marks healing but still distressing. 

Ashara had come down from the ledge and Jaime had watched Lyanna hold her while she wept. He had been embarrassed to watch them, but afraid to leave them, afraid of what they might do. When they emerged from the tower, Ashara was Lyanna’s handmaid and if anyone thought it strange, that she had been Elia’s as well, no one dared speak of it.

When they sailed from Starfall to Highgarden, Jaime noticed Ashara saying goodbye to her little sister, Allyria, who could be no older than two or three. She was a pretty child with dark hair and steely eyes of grey that mirrored his betrothed. In fact, Jaime was sure that when Allyria grew she would look a good deal more like Lyanna. This made him dislike Eddard Stark more and his sense of honor that he had been quick to throw at Jaime every time they were in the same room. 

The very first night Jaime had been introduced to Lord Stark at Starfall, Eddard had stared straight into him after Ser Hightower had told him the plan. “You have broken the oath you made to your king… What means you won’t break this oath to my sister or this King.” 

 

Jaime Lannister thought about opening him there, slicing his bowels out of his body. He could do it easily. Without a word, Arthur Dayne had laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him, knowing what Jaime was thinking. Jaime had looked down at Lord Stark, “I keep my oath to the King. He has my life, my sword, all I have. Be careful how you speak to me Lord Stark. I give your discourtesy a reprieve this time because my betrothed is your sister. However, if you disrespect me again, my steel will be covered in your blood. There are few men who can best me and you, ser, are not one of them. A wolf cannot judge a lion.” 

He walked away and Ser Dayne followed him. Jaime knew that Ser Arthur was laughing on the inside, even though his face did not show it.

Lyanna had made Lord Stark promise to send Benjen in time for her wedding. Eddard Stark had tried to reason with her. Even if the wedding was to be held two months hence, it still might not be enough time to get Benjen to her. “Just try,” she had said. 

Lord Stark said he would try for her and her son. 

 

Alerie and her oldest and the heir to Highgarden have come to watch them wed. The eldest boy is named Willas. He is about the same age as Wade, but taller and stronger. Regardless of their differences, Willas is introspective and a deep thinker. He and Wade and have become good friends. 

Wade Wythers, his squire, has come from Dorne with Prince Oberyn Martell and Rhaenys. They only came a few days ago. Jaime didn’t think he missed him as much as he did, until he saw him with a book and a spyglass in one hand, and and a half eaten apple in the other. He saw him scanning the docks for him, looking slightly lost. Rhaenys was next to him with ribbons in her hair of orange and red and a yellow dress in a Dornish style. She had yelled, loudly when she spotted him. “Ser Flowers!!”

She had run to him and he had picked her up and hugged her tight. “Princess Rhaenys, it is good to see you. I have missed you.”  
He looked down and Wade was there, “Hello, ser. I have come back into your service. Though Prince Oberyn said I would be wasting my talents. I told him that you chose me in that hall and I owe you my life and my service.”

Jaime laughed, “Wade, it is good to have you back. I have a surprise for you. Your mother and stepfather are coming to see you. Perhaps they will bring some of your brothers and sisters.”

“Thank you, ser. I hear you are to marry a lady, ser.”  
“I am.” He said shifting Rhaenys to his other side. She had gotten bigger in the months they had been apart.   
“Rhaenys and I would like to meet her.”  
“I am sure we can arrange something. After all, she is Rhaenys step mother.” He looks at the girl. “Would you like to meet your brother, Jaehaerys?

 

In the dawn light, Jamie has Wade next to him, rubbing tired eyes. He did not ask his father to come because he felt that he would scoff at the events. He did ask Addam Marbrand, and if Lord Sumner Crakehall had been alive, he would have asked him. 

 

Lyanna enters the grove, stepping on the rose petals. There is a slight fog in the air and it adds to the mystery of the ceremony. She is all silver and white silk. It is a simple dress but he can see it is finely crafted with embroidered wolves and silver beads. 

Big old Martin Cassell holds her arm, proud, silent and strong, a true Northerner, as Mark Ryswell stands in front of the weirwoods. 

Mark speaks, “Who comes to the godswood this morning?”

“Lyanna of House Stark a woman trueborn and noble, mother to the true King. She comes to beg the blessings of the gods. Who comes to claim her?” Martin speaks. His voice sounds like rocks and gravel and deep caverns.

The dawn is breaking and leaks pink and purple across the sky. Wade looks up at him “I do. Jaime.. Of House Lannister. Heir to Casterly Rock.”

Addam nods at him standing to his right, reassuring him. Arthur stands to his left, silent as always.

He speaks the words confidently though his stomach is churning. “Who gives her?”

At this moment, there is noise and a shout from the gardens. In a flurry of a wolf cape and furs comes a tall, thin, young man, who is all elbows and a sharp nose and several men behind him.. Lyanna smiles broadly as he rushes to take her arm, knocking out a few of the torch lights. When Jaime takes in the face of the man, he can see it is Lyanna’s brother. How he made it in time is a mystery? Perhaps these Starks know magic of old. 

“I do. Benjen of House Stark, brother to Lord Stark, warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, and brother to Lyanna.”

“Lyanna, do you take this man?”

Lyanna is brushing the dust from her brother’s coat. She is distracted as if she has forgotten this is their wedding. 

Laughing, Benjen takes her and pushes her gently, reminding her there are other people here beside him and her. Lyanna steps forward and finally looks in Jaime’s eyes. She takes Jamie’s hand. “ I take this man.” 

He does not know if the custom is that he should kiss her. So, he takes her face in both her hands and kisses her softly. He hears the cheers and feels the desire to keep the kiss going. When he breaks from her, he sees the color in her face and the smile on her lips. The sun has crested the horizon and the day of their wedding has begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all- I know the idea that Benjen could get to Highgarden from Winterfell is probably impossible ..but this is my little nod to last weeks episode .. lol. Also, this chapter got so big I had to split it in two.. So I am making the final edits and I should post it tonight or tomorrow.


	6. The Wedding and the Bedding Part One 284

One afternoon, shortly after he had returned from getting his father’s consent to his marriage, Jaime had arrived early for his afternoon time with Lyanna in the godswood at Highgarden . He had overheard Lady Tyrell ask her what sort of wedding Lyanna might like. Lyanna had said it didn’t matter to her and then she had gone on to speak of how Rhaegar and her had a simple poor lovely wedding with a septon in brown homespun, barefoot and a feast at an inn on the Kingsroad and they disguised as travellers to King’s Landing. Lyanna had sounded wistful and girlish, qualities that he had never seen in her, in all the hours they spent. 

Jaime had felt irrational anger, as he listened to her speak of her and Rhaegar in disguise as commoners, eating chicken and potatoes in a local inn, drinking ale from wooden cups, her with only wild flowers in her hair as decoration. Jaime thought Lyanna must have been stupid, if she thought they were in disguise. It was probably how her brother Brandon followed their trail to his death in King’s Landing. Every commoner in twenty miles must have had a story about them, A silver haired commoner, who had probably acted very princely with two highly trained guards in white, had a wedding feast in an inn on the Kingsroad. They were fools he thought with disdain, and yet as he sat with her and Jaehaerys, he wondered how she looked on that day with flowers in her hair, wild and willful, hopeful and full of laughter. 

Looking at the sept and the great hall in preparation of their marriage ceremony, he thinks to himself that her second wedding is nothing like her first. It will be as complicated and ornate, formal and political, as her first one was full of simple romance, He looks at himself in the mirror of his room, before he leaves to meet his father. Bitterly, he thinks that she had run away from a loveless marriage arranged by men for political alliances, and yet that is what she ends up with with him. 

 

His father was holding a breakfast feast for all his bannermen. It was a time for him to re-introduce them to Jamie, as his heir. Truthfully, it was a chance for the men of the westerlands to size him up and see if he is as crafty and as strong as his father, to see if he is a man worth fighting and dying for, to see if he is a man able to raise the son of Rhaegar to be a good king, and of course, to remind Jamie when he whispers in the King’s ear to remember the houses that fought and bled for him and up him on the throne. It is also a chance for Tywin to show Jaime off, the heir to Casterly Rock returned. His golden hair and green eyes. The red coat finely tailored and cut, trimmed with gold. He cut an excellent figure and with his sword and the stories of his bravery.. He has become a legend, a romantic figure of strength, loyalty to the Crown. He has heard the musicians practice silly songs of how he gave up his white cloak because he fell in love with Lyanna the moment he set eyes on her. The young ladies love it, but it is pure fantasy.

His father and his bannermen have gathered met in the Rose Hall because the Great Hall was being readied for their wedding feast. The hall is ornate with gilded roses and it overlooks the garden labyrinth with an entire wall of mostly windows and archways. It is beautiful, but his father seems unfazed by the beauty of architecture or the gardens. His father has come with gold and men and might. Looking glorious in his golden cape that requires two squires to fasten it to his back. Tywin Lannister sits in gold and leather, showing he is a man of action and he is willing to fight for his son. Standing straight and proud, Tywin Lannister has every lord, knight, and rich merchant there he can command.

But he has left Tyrion and Cersei at Casterly Rock. Jamie wishes they both were here. He loves them and had hoped his father would bring them. At least Cersei.. There is a nagging sense that Tywin has not brought them because he believes that this is folly. If they were here, he would know his father was not planning for the worse. 

His father and his bannermen and lords of the westerlands have come to see Lord Tywin Lannister’s heir get married to the mother of the King. It is the closest a Lannister has been to the Iron Throne and his father has spared no expense, so that they could remember this for generations to come. The room is filled with men and banners of badgers, dogs, lions, the sun, the mountains, sea shells, boars, trees on fire, and many more. His father approaches his and brings him to the dias to sit at the table. They all cheer to see his father embrace him at the table. The room is full and loud with cheers of “House Lannister”. 

Every bannerman has come when Lord Tywin Lannister called. The fall of the Reynes and the Tarbecks was still only a generation ago and it is fresh what Lord Lannister does to those who slight him. Jaime is overwhelmed by the cheering and meeting all the Lords. They start to blur Crakehalls, Cleganes, Plumms, Presters, Banefort, Leffords, Lymans, Marbrands, Stackspears, Westerlings, Swyfts and on and on. He had talked to Addam Marbrand and he said his father has easily called up twenty thousand men. Lord Tyrell has said he has twenty five thousand men to match his father.

They drink Dornish wine and eat duck, wild boar, roasted pig, quail eggs, and eel pie. There is fresh fruit, cakes, and ices flavored with lemon and oranges. Musicians and jugglers walk the aisles and the room is bustling with noises and colors and smells. Every time the men cheer House Lannister, he must drink. At first, he wondered why his father only had water in his cup, but now the wine is affecting him, he understands.

In the midst of the breakfast, he leans over to his father, “Thank you, Father. It is overwhelming... the support..”

 

“You are my son and heir, Jaime. You are the future of Casterly Rock. It is good to see you taking your rightful place.”

“I will make you proud, father. “

“I should hope so..”

At that moment, Lyanna comes to meet the Lords of the Westerlands on the arm of her brother, Benjen. As his wife, she will be the Lady of Casterly Rock and she should know them. She comes in with her brother, who has freshly washed and dressed. In her dress of silver and white, she is beautiful, smiling and laughing with the lords. He is proud of her and her easy manner with politics. It has never come easy for him. She seems to remember their names and makes light conversation easily. 

Lyanna takes Tywin’s hand when he introduces her to his father. She curtsies and his father kisses her hand. Tywin leads her onto the dias and together they stand to the cheers of House Lannister. Jaime takes a drink of ale. Lyanna takes the cup and drinks a large gulp . The lords cheer even more loudly. On the surface, Tywin and Lyanna are all courtesy, but Jaime sees the disapproval of her manners in his father's face and he notices how Lyanna has not brought the baby because she did not trust his father. Jaime thinks she is smart to remember what his father did to Rhaegar’s other son. He sees the tightness in her eyes and knows this is a farce. She departs the hall early, so she can ready herself for the wedding in the sept. The Lords cheer, as she leaves. 

His father leans into him, as she leaves, “You have two days put a son in her before we march. Do your duty, Jaime.”

They get married in the Sept at noon. Rhaenys and her cousin, Arianne Martell strew flowers through the sept before Lyanna and Benjen Stark who escorts her to the altar. She wears a red dress and he wears a coat that matches. Tywin wanted them in gold, but Lady Alerie mentioned that red was house colors for both Lannister and Targaryen, to remind all who they fought for. Crimson like blood. Lady Alerie had wanted Lyanna to wear a summer dress, with her arms bare, but Lyanna had asked for a northern dress with long sleeves. She is standing before him in crimson, her hair braided in endless braids, pulled up to reveal her long pale neck.

Jaime’s hands are shaking, as he takes off her cloak with both a dragon and wolf. His father wants everyone to remember that she is not just Stark but a Targaryen. The connection to the throne is a symbolism that they drown in throughout the festivities. 

 

He feels drunk from all the wine at breakfast and his stomach is upset, as he iterates the words looking in her eyes, “I am hers and she is mine.” 

He kisses her with great show and he hears all of the Seven kingdoms cheer, or are they screaming. Jaime’s head feels fuzzy and he wishes he hadn’t drunk so much wine.

 

As they walk from the sept to the Great Hall, Jaime’s thoughts go to King’s Landing and Robert. Robert’s spies know about this wedding and Lyanna’s son, as well. There are rumors that Baratheon will march within the week. They have their own spies as well. It seems that Robert has vowed to kill Jaime, like he did Rhaegar, and he has married himself a Bracken girl. Her name is Jeyne Bracken and she is a sister of the Lord of Stone Hedge. A Bracken is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. This act screams that Robert is desperate for allies. His father says snide comments about Robert’s choice of a bride, saying he should have chose a Frey girl as Lord Frey has sired his own army. 

At the feast, Jaime and Lyanna are seated at the head table with Lord Tyrell and his wife,TYwin Lannister, Benjen Stark, Prince Doran Martell, and Princess Rhaenys. His squire, Wade Wythers is beside him in Highgarden green. He is trying to concentrate on the festivities and make sure Jaime has all he needs, but Oberyn has brought him a mechanical clock from Myr. Wade spends most of the festivities trying to explain to Rhaenys how it works and showing it to his younger brothers and sister. 

As the wedding feast is getting started, a knight dressed in white comes. Barristan Selmy has fled King’s Landing and kneels before the King and Lord Commander Hightower and offers his sword. He has snuck out Maekar’s crown. “It is the one Jaehaerys II wore. I pledge my sword my life to the true King Jaehaerys as I swore to his great grandfather Jaehaerys II before you Lord Commander.” 

There is cheer and good feeling throughout the hall. All think it is a good omen, but it sits poorly with Jaime. He knows Barristan is true and loyal but he senses danger. There are now four Kingsguard here and he feels the pommel of his sword, thinking it would be five.

There is a feast with seven courses and the wine flows freely. Too freely. There are minstrels and it is the first time he hears the song, The Princess and the Lion, which tells the story of how he rescued Princess Rhaenys from the Sack of King’s Landing. The song’s story is complete fiction and they have taken his father’s role in the murders completely out. Instead, it is all the plot of a snarling brute, lustful and greedy The tune is catchy and Jaime fears he will be listening to it the rest of his life. 

Oberyn Martell, newly returned to Westeros, is there with his brother Prince Doran. Oberyn will lead the men and his brother will return to Sunspear with Rhaenys and wait out the battle. They seem suspicious and plotting, especially when it comes to his father. Maybe Tywin was right not to bring Cersei and Tyrion here. They bring with them the Yronwoods, the Daynes, the The Blackmonts and more. 

Mace Tyrell tells endless stories of how he led the gallant siege of Storm’s End. He goes on and on to talk about how loyal the Tyrells have been to the Targaryens, all the way back to Aegon. His mother, Lady Olenna, still lovely, tosses barbs around freely and jokes that she will happily take him from Lyanna for the night, if she doesn’t want him. The Lords of the Reach seem too many to count. They are all related and constantly talking about who is the most loyal, the most courtly, the most pedigree. The Redwynes, The Tarlys, the Hightowers, The Rowans, on and on and on. There is a trail of people he meets that wish him good fortune, bless his house, bless their wedding, and tease endlessly about the night to come. Jaime forgets names but Lyanna quietly whispers gentle reminders to help him.

Jaime finds himself wishing Cersei was here so they could tease about how terrible dull these people are compared to them, like they used to when they were young.His future is no longer tied to Cersei it is tied to the woman beside him. He feels unbalanced, unmoored. 

They eat from the same plate and drink from the same cup. There are no Northern men here, except for Benjen and the few he came with and the two Lord Stark left. It is too far for the great houses of the North to come. If Ned has called his bannermen, he would be in the riverlands by now. Would they even ride out with him to overthrow a King that they just sat on the throne. It matters not to him, because he has his father’s men, the Reach and Dorne.

Jaime is devoted to Rhaenys and kept her near him throughout the feast. He knows Oberyn will bring her to King’s Landing when he defeats Robert, but he has missed her. Lyanna smiled at the way he played with her. She seemed to want to play with the girl but did not want to be discourteous or impolite. Rhaenys tells him the story of how she has a black pony at Sunspear and she has named him Meraxes. She is outlining the golden lions on his chest with her finger. She does not call him Jaime. She calls him Ser Flowers, which Lyanna laughs over. He does not care if she mocks him for it because he remembers a terrible day, not too long ago when he held her tiny body over the tiny boat, as she kept getting sick and he thought she would die. Now, she is a precocious four year old who is well spoken, smart and very much alive, a living testament to Rhaegar that he kept his promise. 

Jaehaerys is also part of that promise. The King is beside Lyanna the whole feast. Wylla comes to feed him or take him to console him. But when Wylla does not have Jaehaerys, he is in his mother’s lap. Rhaenys loves him immediately and wholeheartedly. She tells Lyanna, “This brother looks like me with dark hair, not like Aegon.”

The only person absent is Queen Rhaella. She refuses to leave Dragonstone, because she will give birth any day, though she says she will send the Targaryen fleet and Lord Velaryon to help take back the city. She says she will gladly be a regent to her grandson, Jaehaerys and that she longs to hold him. She says she cannot wait for them to be family again with her sweet Rhaenys She has stated that she has crowned Viserys but that let the Lords decide succession, she won't fight it. As long as a Dragon sit on the throne. 

Jaime looked at his father’s face as he read the letter over and over. Jaime knows what words are the words that trouble him most that she has crowned Viserys but let the Lords decide succession. Westeros does not need another civil war and yet, this could mean an uncertain grasp on the throne. He sees his father plotting to give gentle, controllable Rhaella a regency, if she says Jaehaerys should be king over Viserys. Jaime feels a knot in his shoulders when he considers what he might do to Viserys. 

When the feast is finally finished, Jaime learns how much Lyanna loves to dance. She dances with Jaime first. Then Benjen, then Mace Tyrell, on and on and on all night, He does his fair share of dancing, but the ache behind his eyes and the knot in his shoulders only gets worse. 

 

When it is time for the bride and groom to depart to the chambers, they walk to their rooms, arm in arm, like he was escorting her to the Great Hall, not to their marriage bed. Jaime laughs to himself. For them, it is the same thing. There is no reason for a bedding. She is not a maiden and she is the mother to the King. It is not polite to tear the clothes off the mother of the current king. Jaime could care less. He has felt it was a foolish custom and he is more than capable of taking his brides clothes off. 

Oswell Whent and Arthur Dayne are at the door to their chamber because their King is asleep inside. The King is asleep in his cradle, barely four months old. Jahaerys III with his dark hair and his grey eyes. Lyanna refuses to parted with him and has asked if the cradle could stay with them until he leaves to fight. 

The room is filled with candles and a fire in the fireplace. There are rose petals and lavender strewn all over the bed, in case he forgets he is in Highgarden. There is a pitcher of water and one with wine. Jaime goes and pours himself a cup of water.

 

Ashara is there, suddenly to help Lyanna undress and get ready for bed. Jaime tells her, “Thank you, Lady Ashara, but I know how to untie laces. We don’t need you tonight.”

She looks at Lyanna, but leaves without a word.

 

Jaime holds the chair for her so his wife can sit. He starts to unwind all the braids coiled about her head. There is a rhythm to the taking apart of Lyanna Lannister. Slowly he undoes each braid and her hair turns into waves of black rain. It is thick and smells like roses, like the lotion she wears. He helps her take of her necklace and she smiles at him in the polished glass.  
He starts to unlace her sleeves, her bodice, her shoulders. He lets his fingers trace her neck which is so pale in the darkness. He pushes the dress down past her thighs and gives her his hand so that she can step out of the piles of silk and velvet. 

She is in her underdress, as she starts untying his jacket. The idea of her helping him out of his clothing makes him hard. He takes her arms in his hands, holding them between the two of them, and traces the scars. Some are red and some are purplish, fading angry reminders of her inconsolable grief. They are probably six months old. Jaime speaks, as he traces them. “I made a promise to you today and you made one to me. You won’t do this ever again. Not while we are married. I need you to promise me.”

“I won’t do it again”

He kisses them reverently.

She speaks to his unspoken questions, hoping he might understand, “I was lost without him. They all are gone. It was my fault.”

He kisses her lips, closed mouth, hesitant. “Shh. later.. When I return, there will be time to talk.” 

She lifts up her arms, and he pulls the underdress off, over her head. She is naked and beautiful. Instinctively, she uses her arms to cover her belly. He pushes her arms away because she is his and he wants to see her. There are red marks across her belly where the skin stretched to make room for the baby. He doesn’t mind them. She is his wife and hopefully soon, his children will be inside her. He whispers to her “You are beautiful.”

She pulls his tunic over his head, standing on tiptoes to succeed. They are naked. Jaime leads her to the bed. He has not thought of her as a woman, just as Rhaegar’s wife, mother to the King, an oath to protect. She gets in the bed and pats the space next to her. Gently, he climbs in beside her. 

Jaime speaks, hating the fact his voice cracks, “Are you sure we can?” 

“Believe me, The Maesters have checked and checked to see if a Dragon is hiding in there. It is safe enough and empty, waiting..”

He reaches to touch her waist under the covers, and when he feels her bare skin, he almost recoils instinctively.  
Lyanna senses his hesitation, “Don’t think about him.”

Jaime searches her eyes, “ I wasn't. Now I am.”

She kisses him. She is the best kisser he has kissed. There is an expert knowledge, like she has spent many days and nights kissing someone who desired her, until her head would spin and her toes curl.

He pushes it out of his mind.

He touches her and convinces himself she is kissing him. Jaime looks at her face and her eyes are open. They are big and grey and look like ice. In the candlelight, they are watery and he wonders if she will cry. He traces the outline of her lips and she kisses his thumb. 

He says to her, “Lyanna, you are lovely.”

In a small voice, she says, “Thank you..”

He remembers how small her voice sounded when she asked if Rhaegar truly died. She opens her legs and takes him in her hand, showing him the way to her sex.

When he enters her, she is tight and hot and wet and he is breathless. He has only been with a woman once and that was years ago. She wraps her legs around his hips and moves against him, like the she is drawing him out. He leans his weight on her hair and she squeals in pain. Jaime apologizes, blushes, and remembers how easy it was with Cersei, natural like breathing. She feels too good and he comes so quickly, too quickly. She hears her breath exhale like she is angry, angry that he can't satisfy her, angry at his inexpertise. He rolls off her and looks at the canopy. “I'm sorry, “

“There is no worry. It was your first time, and I knew it would be quick.”

He lays there thinking that it wasn’t. 

Jaehaerys cries. Jaime is sure she sleeps with him and the baby probably hates being in his cradle, being replaced by Jaime. She wraps herself in a robe and picks him up, shushing and rocking him. But the child won't be consoled.

She starts to cry and Wylla comes in to take the child, feed and comfort him. In order to give them privacy, she takes the boy to her little room attached to theirs. Jaime realizes she had to wean the boy, while he was gone. She had to wean him so that she would be able to give Jaime an heir. Lyanna is softly crying in bed, in the light of the dying fire. 

“He doesn't love me the way he did. It used to be I was all he needed and now I can't even feed him. He looks to Wylla for comfort. I am replaced.” She says, more to the darkness than to him.

 

“I suppose it is my fault. I am sorry Lyanna. I know I cannot make it, so you can nurse him again, but I promise you can nurse all our children for as long as you want.”

 

She looks at him angrily. He immediately feels sorry for any children they might have. They will always be the byproduct of a deal she made to keep her eldest alive. He realizes he may have sacrificed too much. He wishes he could go back to Riverrun all those years ago and marry Lysa Tully.

Unable to know how to deal with her anger or her sorrow, Jaime rolls over to sleep. In the night, her legs entwine with his. She feels her hands trace the ridges of his ribcage and the outline of his muscles. He moans as she moves down his body and takes him in her mouth. She is deliberate and experienced. It feels wonderful to feel her mouth suck his cock. He looks down and watches her as best as he can in the dark. He wishes the candles were still lit. He hears her make a noise and realizes she likes this. He almost lets go. 

Instead, he rolls her over on the bed and kisses her, pulling his hand through her thick black hair. He parts her legs with his hands. He remembers Cersei showing him how to make her excited, teaching him to use his fingers and his tongue.. Jaime’s fingers touch her slowly. He traces his tongue down her body, as he remembered Cersei pulling his head to her sex and telling him what to do. He licks her, like he did with Cersei. She cries out with a moan. He keeps her legs apart with his strong hands and keeps licking. Lyanna twists and moans and he keeps licking. He feels her come, pushing up against him. 

Her leg is shaking and he keeps licking. His mouth starts to ache and she is so wet, but he keeps licking. The second time she comes, her whole body tightens and he feels her toes curl hard against his shoulders.  
He climbs up and settles between her thighs. “I take it you liked that, Wife.”  
She nods and is rubbing against him, in an achingly delightful way.  
She is concentrating on breathing. She looks in his eyes and says, “Please.”  
He is looking in her eyes. Grey into green. “Say my name.”

“Please, Jaime.”  
He guides himself into her gently and hears the contented moan she makes as he pushes into her. He is inside as deep as he could be and she says his name again. “Jaime.”

She says it again and again, as he pushes into her roughly and hard. He will not come first this time. Deep and hard, he fucks her deliberately. He will not let the ghost of Rhaegar in their bed. After all, he will haunt them everywhere else, for all their days. Jaime pulls his fingers through her hair and pulls her mouth to his. As he does, He feels her tighten and he lets go, satisfied. It is the second time that night. Later, she will say to him Jason was made that night, that time, as if she could know. 

Much, much much later, she will say she knew she would be happy that night. Jaime knew that was a lie that she told herself. He remembers how much she disliked him, but he also can remember the satisfaction of feeling her toes tighten against his shoulders and her calling his name like a prayer in the darkness.


	7. The Battle and The War Part One  284-285 AC

It is black as death when his eyes spring open in the dark room. It is the same nightmare, the press of bodies the thick smell of blood and shit heavy in the mist. Horses are screaming and men are dying. Jaime takes a few deep breath in the cool darkness, remembering he is safe. He listens to his young wife breathe and she makes a soft noise, as she presses closer to him. He dreads the nights sometimes because of the dreams, but he likes the feel of Lyanna’s body next to him. It seems that only in the darkness of night will she allow him to touch her and hold her. 

In the morning, it will be his nineteenth name day. It has been months since the battle where the Usurper was defeated, but still he has dreams of that day. He wakes breathless, aware, heart racing ready to kill. Sometimes, it is a mixture of the Mad King burning people and men slicing each other open at the mouth of the Mander, horses struggling in the mud. He is racing up the stairs to the Iron Throne to kill Aerys II to stop him from burning half a million innocent people and when he gets to the top he is surrounded by the Battle of Mud, as the singers know it. Most of the times in the middle of the night, he is sure he is going mad.

Lyanna will sometimes wake him holding him close and shushing him like a baby, like Jaehaerys. He doesn’t mind. In the blackness of the room, she will hold him and kiss him gently. Sometimes, the kisses will become more passionate and though she won’t let them consummate, she has gotten good at finishing him with her hands. 

He doesn’t mind not being able to make love to her because she says they shouldn’t while she is pregnant. Jaime doesn’t want to hurt their child inside her. He likes holding her hard swollen belly and talking to his child in the night. Lyanna refers to it as a boy, their son, but he does not care, not really. A healthy baby is all he cares about. He knows he is probably the only man in all of the Red Keep who cares less if it is a girl. When the baby kicks his hand by the sound of his voice, he always laughs. He is sure when the child comes, things will be less strained between him and Lyanna. After all, she is a wonderful mother to Jon. 

He remembers when she arrived to King’s Landing, she was almost five months gone. The Targaryen and Lannister banners were everywhere. He had gone to meet her at the dock. They had thought a ship might be easier than the journey by land with the King, not even a year and pregnant. She had come with Lady Ashara, a Florent girl, named Selyse, and a Tyrell cousin, all to be her ladies in waiting. When he had seen her, his stomach had twisted slightly and he had smiled.  
She had been helped off the ship by Ser Barristan and Ser Oswell Whent, holding Jaehaerys carefully. He had taken the baby first and smiled at him. He had grown so big in five months and it seemed like he had forgotten Jaime entirely. Jaehaerys reached for his mother upset that she would give him up to this stranger in red and gold. 

Jaime laughed and Lyanna smiled. “He will warm to you soon enough, Jaime. He has just been away from you for so long.” 

He kissed her formally on the cheek and said, “I will never be apart from you for so long again. Welcome to King's Landing, wife.”

He gave her a tour of the Red Keep and he could see the sadness in her eyes. Perhaps she had always thought Rhaegar would introduce her to the palace. Around every corner, he thinks she looks for a piece of her beautiful dead prince, embedded in the stonework, in the flowers, in the pieces of furniture and how they are laid out. Knowing what she looks for, he tries to tell her the places he knows about Rhaegar, but he finds if he tries to speak the words, there is only anger in his belly and the words never come.

Jaime takes her to their rooms. He chose the rooms because there is a balcony that overlooks the city and one that overlooks the sea. It is a huge set of rooms with a sitting room and a dressing room and it was attached to several other rooms by doors. He was hoping to make one a nursery for Jaehaerys and the new baby, the other for Rhaenys. So they could be nearby. The Red Keep is known for its atrocities to the young princesses and princes that have resided here. 

His father had told him to take these rooms. He was hesitant, at first. After all, these were traditionally the rooms of the Prince of Dragonstone and the heir to the Iron Throne and they had been Rhaegar’s rooms. Jaime had guarded this door while the Prince had slept and he had found Rhaenys on her father’s bed in this room the day King’s Landing was sacked.

Jaime had replaced the bed with something that wasn’t covered in dragons. It was a weirwood bed with carved lions and wolves chasing each other up the post and fighting across the headboard. He had it made, special for his wife. At first, he thought it would symbolize both their Houses coming together. Now, as he looked at it, it seemed like they were battling and did not seem a good omen at all. 

She wanders through the room like she was looking at the ruins of an ancient crypt in Old Valyria, half in awe and half in her imagination of what might have happened in this room. 

“My father said these were some of the best room’s in all of Maegor’s Holdfast. They are the some of the biggest with both a view of the sea and King’s Landing. We are also connected to two rooms. One I thought could be for Rhaenys and the other is much larger.. I thought we could put Jaehaerys and the new baby in there. I know how you like to be close to him. “

She wanders to the balcony and seems faraway. Without thinking, he speaks, “I found Rhaenys in this room during the Sack of King’s Landing. Before I saved her, she was there.”

He points to where the bed sits. She looks at him weighing her words carefully. Immediately, he wishes he had said nothing. “These are Rhaegar’s rooms?”  
His words are like stones, heavy between them,“These are the traditional rooms for the Prince of Dragonstone.”

She looks at him, like he might have three heads. She is touching the posts of the bed, running her fingers over the carvings. “These were Rhaegar’s rooms.”

“I had the bed replaced. I didn’t want to sleep in the bed that Elia and Rhaegar did.” It is an unkind remark to make to her, reminding her of Elia.

She doesn’t flinch or cry or laugh. She looks at him and places a hand on her stomach. “Jaime, I am very weary from travelling. I think I need to rest.”

 

“Of course,” he says. She had sent a messenger to tell him that she was pregnant and the Maesters confirmed it, right before the battle. His father had clapped him on the back and smiled a real smile when he had heard the news. 

He crosses the distance of the room, quickly, until she is but a step away. For trying to hurt her, he is apologetic, but can’t seem to communicate anything to her. “Lyanna, how far along are you?”

“Jaime, we have been apart for five months, so I am five months gone. Almost halfway done.”

Tentatively, he reaches out to touch her stomach, but before he touches the fabric of her dress, he looks to her for permission. She nods, speaking no words, and he touches her stomach. There is his child, inside her, the future of Casterly Rock and the Lannisters. Inside this woman who is mostly a stranger to him and who he seems to never completely understand.

Her stomach is hard and full and he smiles immediately at the wonder of it. Jaime looks up at her. Lyanna looks tired, but patient, and she is not smiling. 

“I am glad you and Jaehaerys are here. Father has called the Great Council of the Lords. They will decide who shall be King before the end of the week. Tonight there is a feast. We will need to attend.”  
“Of course. Please wake me. I just need to rest.” 

“I will go make sure Jaehaerys has all he needs.” 

 

He shuts the door, watching her undress, before she lays down. Ser Oswell is already at the door of her room. He smiles when he sees Jaime. “It is good to see you, Lannister. I thought you might do something crazy and get yourself killed.”  
Jaime laughs, “No help from you, you red-headed bastard.”  
“I would have loved to be there and seen the fucking Traitor die, bleeding in the mud, like a pig.”  
“Ser Arthur made short work of him, even with his war hammer.”  
“I heard he died calling for you.”  
“I would have given him a taste of my sword, but Ser Arthur said he had a debt for Rhaegar.”  
Oswell chuckled and patted him on the back. “I kept her safe for you and Jaehaerys safe for the throne.”  
“Thank you.”  
Oswell smiled, “She will warm to you. She is a sweet woman. She has been through much.”  
“We all have..” 

When he left Ser Barristan Selmy and Ser Oswell Whent with the fastest Redwyne ship and his wife and her son. He takes Whent aside, before he leaves. “If all fails, take them to Essos. If she is pregnant, Casterly Rock might be safe for a short time to regroup. Keep her safe. Keep the King safe or all this is for nothing.” 

Jaehaerys and Lyanna are the last ones to arrive in King’s Landing. Jaime was the first to arrive. He has been in King’s Landing, since Jon Arryn met them at the gates to grant them entry. Tywin immediately threw him in chains in the Black Cells. His wife, Lysa Arryn, pregnant is given a nice clean room in the Maidenvault where she is guarded. It helps keep the peace of the Riverlands and the Vale, if they have Lysa Tully Arryn, protected. Jeyne Bracken Baratheon, wife of Robert, is also pregnant. She is given a room next to Lysa Arryn, and an invitation to be a guest of House Targaryen that they cannot refuse. 

There was so much to do in the beginning with retaking the city, but as the days pass, there becomes less and less to do. In the morning, he spars and practices with Dayne, Marbrand, Ryswell, and Benjen Stark. Jaime has gotten to know Benjen Stark and has decided out of all the Starks, he probably like Benjen the best. Benjen was quick to smile and quicker to laugh. He was a good fighter and good with a horse. He was awkward around women and didn’t frequent brothels. So Jaime wasn’t likely to get in too much trouble, like he might with Addam Marbrand or Oberyn Martell. Benjen still had that righteous, thick, unbending Stark honor, but he was quick to joke about it, even if he would never break it. It made him a good friend.

One of the things that filled Jaime’s first days in King’s Landing was paying one of his debts. He had promised himself months and months ago that he would kill all of Aerys’ pyromancers. It only takes him a few weeks. Belis, he killed while he was eating his dinner, alone, looking at scrolls. He killed Garigus, while he was sleeping beside his mistress, and the mistress never woke up. A Lannister always pays his debts. 

One thing Jaime Lannister learns early on is that the small folk love him. A golden haired prince, gallant, chivalrous, charming, is not so different than a silver-haired one. He takes Rhaenys riding at least once a week, sometimes twice, with Wade and the Kingsguard through King’s Landing. The people cheer, wave, and throw flowers. Rhaenys is a born ruler with pretty smiles, courtesy and care for her people. The people cheer for him and Oberyn, though Jaime teases Oberyn that he has the louder cheers. Oberyn always has some good jibe back about the people of King’s Landing being stupider than pigs or if they could see them fight or fuck, that he would get the louder applause. Jaime always laughs. He only baits him because he is bored in King’s Landing and feels like he is waiting for something to happen.

Rhaenys is the first of the House Targaryen to arrive and reclaim their seat. She arrives with Prince Doran Martell and his wife, Lady Mellario. Every day, they bring her out in front of the people for them to cheer and throw flowers. She is so glad to see Jaime, as is Wade. When Wade see him, he tells him how well he protected the Princess. For the first time, he feels a tension between him and the Martells. The last times he had been in their company, he was the champion of House Martell. Now he senses tension every time, she wants to come to him or sit with him and tell him stories. He knows it is the part his father played in the death of Elia and her son. 

Within a day or two, Willem Darry comes to King’s Landing with the two children of Aerys II, Viserys and Danaerys. Viserys is small, thin, but well formed. He is tentative and trusts Ser Darry, but he has the pride of a boy who was raised to be the brother of the King. The boy needs to be reminded that a strong crofter with a knife can kill a king. 

Princess Daenerys is a beautiful baby. Even though, she is only a month old, she is lovely with her silver hair and purple eyes. They come with a nurse named Lila, who is a lovely slip of a girl with silver hair and purple eyes from Dragonstone. Lila probably has as much Targaryen blood as any of the heirs, she was just born on the wrong side of the sheets. For generations, the Lords of Dragonstone had populated bastards all over that island.

Right before Lyanna arrives, Lord Eddard Stark arrives in King’s Landing, leaving his wife and son in Winterfell. He comes with his good father Hoster Tully and the Lords of the Riverlands and the North. Lord Eddard asks if they will take Robert's head off a pike. After all, he was a cousin to the Targaryens. He is told by Tywin Lannister that Roberts head will stay on a pike, until the flesh falls off so all know what happen to traitors. Prince Oberyn laughs at this and says that the current hall would be filled with many more headless men. No one laughs but Jaime Lannister. But one look from his father, Tywin, and he stops laughing. 

Jaime comes back to Lyanna later. She is still sleeping, only in her shift. Her dark curls are spread out across the pillow. She must have been warm because she only uses a sheet to cover herself in it is tangled near her. The shift has moved up and is barely covering her thighs. Her hand is protective of her belly even in sleep and rests on it gently. He had only two nights with her and he finds that he likes the idea of a pretty young wife, sleeping almost naked in his bed. 

Gently trying not to disturb her, he lies down beside her. She makes a soft sound and partially opens her eyes, almost smiling. His hand slides up her thighs, soft and smooth, white as snow. He puts his hand on her belly and he kisses it below the fabric. She runs her fingers through his golden hair. He positions himself between her thighs, so he can kiss her belly. She giggles, as he talks to the baby telling it that he will get it a lion, like his grandfather had.  
The baby kicks him and he laughs. She laughs and looks at him between her legs. Suddenly her eyes get dark and she bites her lip. He pushes her shift even higher. She tries to protest but he kisses her. “It’s our baby. It’s alright. He kisses her stomach and her breasts. When he goes to untie his pants, she stops him “ We can’t.”  
He looks at her, “Why?”  
“We might hurt the baby..  
He looks at her and he thinks if this is true. He is breathless and aching and he is sure she is joking. He rolls off her and lays on the bed beside her. “We could hurt him?”  
“Yes, the Maester in Highgarden told me that we shouldn’t.”  
“Of course. I wouldn’t want to hurt either of you.”  
She takes her shift and puts it back on. “It’s only a few more months.”  
He tries a few times to touch her or make her finish with his mouth, but she would protest and stop him. So, he tries to not bother her too much. Perhaps, pregnancy changes women. Perhaps, when the baby comes, things will become better, less tense. 

The night at the feast, it seems Ned Stark has brought all the Northern Lords, Manderly, Glover, Umber, Cerwyn, Mormont. Of course, House Manderly, Reed, Dustin were here for the battle for the throne. They come with their furs of bears and wolves and their wild ways. Jaime watches them With the Northern men, Lyanna brightens with their serious and their strange ways. Instead of wine, ale flows freely and there are stories of the Night’s Watch and giants and white walkers on giant spiders of ice.  
He does not see the charm but his wife surrounds herself with the young lords of the North who have come to celebrate the idea of her son sitting on the Iron Throne. Jaime hears her laughter and hears her tell Lord Dustin that he has finally been able to grow a proper beard. He laughs and tells her if Brandon was alive he would finally be impressed. They are sitting side by side, but he hears her lean into Lord Dustin and tell him she likes the way it makes him look. 

During the feast, Rhaenys has to share his lap with Jaehaerys. He will win over this child. He is good with children, but this boy will be like his son and he doesn’t want him to fear him, like he fears his father. In fact, Tywin Lannister might be the only thing in the whole world that Jaime Lannister is afraid of. 

He drinks too much ale at the feast and he falls into restless sleep and nightmares. 

It is overcast morning when the forces of the Usurper meet the forces of the Dragon. Before they reached this place, several ravens arrived. Each one with terrible news for their cause. First, there have been storms all along the coast the last week. It has flooded the rivers and by the time they get to Tumbleton, everything is swollen with rain and mud. 

Then there is one from Willem Darry. Queen Rhaella has died in a terrible storm in childbirth. Willem writes how he wishes to come and fight, however much of the Targaryen fleet has been destroyed, but that they will come when the Usurper is defeated. 

Another message comes from Lord Velaryon that he will bring some of his ships to smash what is left of the fleet, but that much of his fleet is destroyed. However, he has heard that the ships Baratheon was building to overtake Dragonstone were also damaged. 

Another raven comes, Lord Stark will not ride out against his foster brother and Jon Arryn, but he does not ride out against his sister and her son. Jaime had realized this would happen. After all, if Lord Eddard Stark had called his bannermen, they would have had word before now. He did give leave for the Northern Lords to decide themselves. Only a few come but Jaime is grateful to them; the Manderlys, the Boltons, the Reeds.  
From the Riverlands, the Blackwoods, the Freys, the Darry's, the Whents rode out to meet them in the Reach. Hoster Tully had decided to not ride out with King Robert, either Jaime thinks he is probably afraid that the remaining Lannister army will destroy the Riverlands if he rides out. Hoster Tully is not a stupid man. 

His father took it all in at his table. Jaime looked in his father’s stern face to see if he saw fear or uncertainty, but Tywin Lannister seems unfazed. Jaime and Tywin eat together the night before the battle. Just him and his father. His father is quiet and thoughtful. He only speaks of the upcoming battle and preparations. Jaime thinks how quick his father's mind works and how he will make a good regent for the boy. Tywin tells his son that he would like him to stay a little behind the battle. Jaime thinks of it as care and concern. After all, he does not want anything to happen to him but there could always be insidious intentions with his father.

“Father, I will ride out with the vanguard with Ser Arthur and Addam Marbrand and the Western Men cavalry and Benjen Stark and the Northern men. It is important that I am there with them father. It is important …”  
Tywin looks at him and he wipes his mouth. His stare is intense and dark, but Jaime does not look away.  
“Jaime, take care. ”  
Before he leaves the tent, he wants to tell his father about how he killed Aerys. He feels like he should and he almost does, but he finds he cannot speak the words. 

The battle is outside Tumbleton at the muddy head waters of the Mander. It has been raining and is overcast and foggy. By mid morning, when the fog clears and the humidity sits heavy on the world, the smell of shit and mud and blood is so strong that grown men are getting ill from the smell. 

Jaime remembers thinking that if he can survive today, all will be well. Jaehaerys will have his throne. He will have his wife. The Seven Kingdoms will be at peace, all will be well. All he has to do is get through today. Jaime wants to get to Robert first, but he doesn’t…Arthur is there like he has been waiting all day for this meeting Robert has smashed through dozens of men and in the cleared space. The Sword of Morning meers him there, silver and white against Robert’s black and gold, with his antlered helm and war hammer.

There are few words from Ser Dayne though Robert blusters and rages. Robert calls that after Dayne he will cut Jaime Lannister in half. Dayne is sure footed and sleek. He cuts around him and his deadly hammer. Dayne sees the chance and makes his move. Robert’s gut and shit leak out into the mud and he bleeds into the ground. 

When Robert falls, most of the the troops scatter or surrender. Except for Stannis Baratheon. They almost have to slaughter them all before Stannis gives up, bloody. 

Addam Marbrand cuts off Roberts head to put it in pitch on the gates of the Red Keep. When he looks up, it is not Robert’s head on a pike for being a traitor but his. He wakes up screaming and Lyanna is there to hold him. 

On the first day of the Great Council, Benjen, Lyanna and Jaime are in the garden, waiting. Her brother is playing with the boy. Jaime and Benjen have been trying to get him to walk. Jamie is in awe of how much he looks like a Stark, dark hair, grey eyes. He looks entirely like Lyanna. 

However, Jaime has spent a great deal of time with Jaehaerys’ sister and he can see that they share the same lips, their fingers, their smile, and their laugh. In fact, sitting them next to each other, they look very much like brother and sister, even though neither of them have the signature silver hair and purple eyes.  
Benjen is swinging the boy and he is laughing. “Jahaerys is too big a name and it is too formal. He needs a name we can call him everyday, a practical name. Jon.. he looks like a Jon. I will call him Jon.”

Soon, the whole family calls him Jon. Except for Tywin Lannister who calls him Jaehaerys.

The Great Council doesn’t take long. Before the end of the first day, the bells are tolling for the new King, Jaehaerys III. Jaime knows his father has been filling the Lord's ears with rumors of Viserys, that he is a cruel boy given to madness, a spoiled child, a product of inbreeding. Rumors that it would be better to give it to Rhaegar's second son, who wasn’t a product of incest. The Great Lords agree to Jaehaerys overwhelming than to Viserys. 

With the new King decided on, there is the work to getting the Seven Kingdoms back to functioning. The first order of business is the traitors in the black cells. Before they are pulled out, Renly Baratheon arrives in King’s Landing. Tywin had Addam Marbrand go and collect him at Storm’s End. Stannis had left him in Storm’s End for his protection. Renly is a young boy younger than Wade, but looks like Robert had, dark hair, bright blue eyes. Renly will be given an invitation to be a permanent guest in King’s Landing 

Tywin has decided that all the Lords who kneel will not be punished. Kneel and swear your oaths and let the Kingdoms heal is what he plans to do. 

Jon Arryn is pulled from the black cells. He is an old man and the dungeons have not been kind to him. He is coughing and he seems frail and weak. Just a few days ago, Lysa Arryn has delivered a boy, that she named Robyn. Tywin looked askance at that name, but it is none of his concern if the next heir to the Vale is named after an ineffectual songbird. Tywin uses the idea of an heir and a baby boy to bend Jon Arryn. Jon Arryn promises to kneel and swear fealty. In exchange, the boy and his wife will stay in King’s Landing but only for a year or two. After all, a son must have a father and House Arryn has always been a friend and ally to House Targaryen.

Stannis is also pulled from the Black Cells. Though he was not a great warrior like his brother, Robert, Jaime thinks that Stannis might be the more formidable opponent. Stannis is not as handsome as his other brothers, but his eyes show a natural intelligence and he is fiercely loyal. Stannis Baratheon did not retreat or call his men to stand down on the battlefield. He continued to charge, until he was defeated and put in chains. Stannis agrees to the terms. He will kneel and give up all claim to the Iron Throne and swear fealty in perpetuity. Renly will stay in King’s Landing and perhaps if all is well, in a few years, he will be returned.

 

When Stannis kneels and declares fealty for King Jaehaerys, Jaime hears the doubt in his voice the catch in his throat but Ned Stark has spoken with him as has Jon Arryn. It is the right thing to do, especially since his little brother is now being held in the Red Keep. He never looks away, head slightly bowed, kneeling. Jaime hears the truth behind the vow this man has made. He is pledged to the Targaryens, now and always.

There is the Coronation of King Jaehaerys III and the feasts, where the singers sing that song, The Princess and the Knight. They have added a new verse of how he fought the Usurper and laid the crown of her father at her feet. It is a silly song and makes him feel foolish. He spends most of the time during the feasts, watching his pregnant wife flirt and dance with Northern Lords.

 

He finds he hates ruling, but sits on the small council, as his father bids him. The regency council is made up of seven; Tywin Lannister, Montford Velaryon, Benjen Stark, William Darry, Mace Tyrell, Oberyn Martell, and Wyman Manderly. All chosen with politics in mind; two old Targaryen allies to show support to Viserys and his legacy, two Northern Houses for his mother’s family. one from Dorne, one from the Reach, and his father.

Since the coronation and the Regency Council is decided, Tywin Lannister turns to other tasks before all the eligible lords return to their corners of the Seven Kingdoms. THe task that Tywin would like to settle is the marriage of his daughter, Cersei. After all, she is almost nineteen and the most beautiful and eligible girl in the Seven Kingdoms. 

 

Jaime knows his father thought of Oberyn Martell but only briefly. After all, there is still visible hatred every time Oberyn looks at his father. How long Cersei would survive in Dorne with the palpable hatred? 

Another option for Tywin would be Viserys. Viserys is second in the line for the throne. Cersei always wanted to marry a Prince. However, Tywin has just slandered Viserys to any lord who might listen. How would it look to marry his daughter to the mad child he described. Also, Cersei is almost ten years older than him and surely they couldn’t marry for another seven years. Cersei can’t wait that long to be a wife and a mother

There is one Great Lord that is in the line of succession that is unmarried, Stannis Baratheon is almost twenty years old, a loyal man given to dark moods, but he has lived in the shadow of his brother for too long. 

Lord Tywin invites Stannis to his solar. Jaime is invited to go. His father does not ask Jaimes opinion of the match and Jamie doesn't offer. He cannot imagine it. Jaime watches how his father tries to intimidate him, but Stannis is not a man cowed which makes Jaime think Cersei may like the match if she lets it happen. Jaime has asked about Stannis and has learned he is a man ruled by honor with a strong moral code who believes in the right thing even if it is difficult. He has never gone to a brothel and there is no talk anywhere of girls that he may have bedded. He recently knighted a smuggler and made him a lord because he broke the Siege of Storm’s End with onions, but cut off his fingers because he broke the law by smuggling. An odd man. An unyielding man. 

When Stannis asks about his younger brother and how long he will have to stay in King's Landing, Tywin tells him curtly that Renly’s needs will be taken care of and perhaps later when Stannis proves his loyalty to the king he can be returned. To Jaime, this shows loyalty and some regard for the boy. Somewhere, there is a softer side to Stannis Baratheon

When the conversation moves to Cersei’s hand, Stannis seems overwhelmed and flushed. After all, a known traitor cannot refuse the Hand of the King when he offers him the hand of his only daughter, who might be the most eligible maiden in the Seven kingdoms. He accepts flustered, awkward formally. It is a good match, better than he deserves, Jaime thinks. 

 

Over the next few days, Gerold Hightower asks his advice on who should help fill the Kingsguard. It is political move and Hightower is probably trying to appeal to Tywin but Jaime offers Preston Greenfield, a strong fighter from the Westerlands, and Merlon Crakehall, the youngest of Lord Crakehall’s son and smallest, but still a very large and strong man. 

Richard Horpe is also made a Kingsguard. Horpe comes from Stannis’ counsel and the Stormlands. Though Richard Horpe seems a good choice for the Kingsguard, Jaime sees this as the surest sign that Tywin sees Stannis as the match for Cersei.  
As soon as the regency council is appointed, the Great Lords return to all the corners of the Seven Kingdoms and Jaime’s world goes back to the simple waiting. He is not really sure what he is waiting for but it feels like waiting. 

Cersei and Tyrion come to King’s Landing too late for the coronation, but when Tywin is certain that it is safe to bring all his children to the city. Jaime, Tywin, Addam Marbrand and Stannis are at the gate when the Lannister party arrives. Cersei steps out of the wheelhouse and his heart skips a beat. She is still the prettiest thing he has ever seen, much prettier than Lyanna. She is a vision of red and gold, perfumed with gentle kisses and alluring smiles. She sees his eyes appraise her and smiles because she knows the effect she has on him. She hugs him and kisses him on the cheek, “Where is your wife? I wanted to meet my new sister..”  
There is so much anger in her voice he wonders why his father can’t hear it.  
“Cersei, she apologizes for not being here to welcome you, but she rests. She is almost due and always tired. Lyanna will eat with us tonight.”  
She looks at him and the hurt is on her face because his child is growing inside Lyanna. To Cersei, this betrayal wounds her deeply. Even now, though they haven’t seen each other in almost four years. She still wants to hold him to some vow he swore to her years ago as children. 

She touches his cheek and comments on the beard Jaime is trying to grow. It is growing in poorly with patches and he finds it itchy. “Look, brother, you have grown wild. It is all that wild Northern influence.” 

Tyrion is more hesitant but Uncle Gerion is there as an escort and with some whispered words and jokes to him as encouragement. Tyrion looks at their father hesitantly almost apologetically but says a few words. But when he sees Jaime, he warms and Jaime hugs him. Jaime loves his siblings and is glad to have them with him. 

Stannis stands back and watches Cersei guarded. Stannis Baratheon is a serious man who sees subtleties and slights. Jaime knows he watches them and he wonders if he hears the flirtation between brother and sister. Jaime wonders when their father introduces her to Stannis and Stannis kisses her hand if Cersei understands what her father intends. 

Later at the feast, Cersei approaches Lyanna, all smiles, but her rancor is visible. Cersei sees Lyanna’s stomach at eight months, full of a Lannister. Their father has negotiated a marriage with Stannis. Cersei had wanted a better match, but he lies in the ground. Jaime knows that she would have rather had Rhaegar or Robert than Stannis, but he thinks she wouldn’t have been happy with either of them. 

Cersei finds him, as night falls and the sky spills purple and pink over the rocks and the sea. She comes to his room. Lyanna is with Manderly and Benjen, still at the feast.  
“I missed you,” she says pressing against him, “I missed you so much.”  
He finds his hands in her hair and his lips on hers. It is easy with Cersei. She is like a lost piece of his body. 

“I love you,” she says. “I missed you.”  
“I missed you” he says, kissing her back. 

Cersei falls to her knees and takes him in her mouth. It feels so good to be wanted. It feels so good to be with her and the things she is doing to him are almost too much, they feel so good. He closes his eyes and imagines taking her in his bed. How sweet she would feel. Jaime lifts his sister up on her feet., “Not now, Cersei.. Not like this. Not anymore.”

“Why should she get Rhaegar, you, the crown, and all I get a second son in the Stormlands?” 

“I am married. I said an oath to her. Stannis is a good man and he is the Lord of Storm’s End, second son or not.”

“You said an oath to me.”

“I am sorry, but those were a long time ago. Children’s games. Children’s promises.” 

She walks away furious and leaves him, watching her walk out of his room, wishing he could go after her.

The next day, Tywin and Stannis announce the upcoming nuptials between Cersei and Stannis in four months. Stannis leaves the following day to see to things at Storm’s End. After all, he is a serious man and he needs to see to the Stormlands, and do serious things; count his stores, tend his fields, rule his people. 

Jaime fills his days with the children, mostly Rhaenys, Jon, and Daenerys and with fighting. Sometimes, he goes riding with Wade in the Kingswood. He watches Cersei, still beautiful, even with her rage. His father tells him to take his leave and go to the Rock, since he will be the Warden of the West. But he cannot leave yet with his child being soon to be born and his sister getting married.

Wade becomes good friends with Tyrion. Wade is a strange boy with too many questions and a head for books, but he is sweet. He never acts strangely around Tyrion, never makes Tyrion feel badly. Tyrion and Wade become inseparable. 

 

On his nineteenth nameday, Lyanna wakes him in the night. Jaehaerys is sleeping between them.

She wakes him in the night and she is in pain. He can hear it when she wakes him, “Jaime... Wake up. “  
He gets up and brings Jon to the nursery and hands him off to Lila. He sends for the midwife and the Maester. Soon, the Red Keep is awake to wait and watch.

Jaime wants to stay with her in that room, where she is crying and panting. Instead, his father tries to get him to drink some wine in the Hand’s solar. Benjen, Manderly, Whent are drinking in the Hall. He tries drinking with them but find he doesn’t have the taste for it. 

Jaime goes in their room, where she is giving birth. The midwife an the Maester try to get him out but he stays anyway. Lyanna clutches his hand afraid. He climbs in the bed with her and helps her give birth. He gives her water and rubs her back and reminds her to breathe. When she says the pain is too much, he pushes the hair from her face and tells her just a little bit longer. 

It is a quick birth, the Maester says and an easy one. When they hand him the dark haired baby, red faced and crying, he counts each one of little miraculous fingers and his tiny toes. He kisses Lyanna and tries to hand her the precious baby, his son. She does not take him, but she does ask him if he is well. 

“He is beautiful and perfect.”  
Jaime feels a closeness to her that he has never felt with someone else. The fact they made this tiny baby that is half him and half her. The child represents all the possibilities. All the hopes and dreams in this tiny baby. His son opens his eyes and green eyes the color of his own look back at him. 

“I am so happy Lyanna. I will give you anything. Anything you want.” He kisses her gently on her forehead, handing the baby to the wet nurse.

She looks at him and smiles. Her face is frost and her words are ice to him. “I would like to sleep in my own rooms without you.” 

“Of course, you must be weary. Until you feel better..”  
“No.. I don’t think I ever want to share a bed with you again. Ever.”  
He looks at her and smiles. 

“As you wish,” he says. 

Leaving her room, he thinks to himself of that day he rode out against Robert Baratheon and told himself after this battle, all will be well. If he could just get through that one day, all will be well. If he had been wiser, he would have realized that the battle is over, but the war has begun, the war between him and his wife. The War between Stark and Lannister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I lost this chapter once so I tried to recreate it.. It is a really long chapter but I had to get everyone where I needed them. I don't think we should have a long chapter like this for a long time. Also, remember Jaime and Lyanna aren't going to be nice to each other for awhile. Things might get dark But I promise they will get brighter.


	8. First Sons 285 AC

Jaime has only ever lived his life as the first son of a great House and not just any House but the Lannisters, Tywin Lannister’s heir. Only Rhaegar Targaryen could have understood the expectation, the wealth, the privilege and the huge weight of responsibility more than he did. In fact, sometimes Jaime wonders if Tywin's plan had been to get Jaime to be Rhaegar’s Hand of the King.

As a first son, things came relatively easily. After all, he was meant to rule the westerlands and people often try to vy for favor when a child is young, easily manipulated and won by small gifts, minor victories, correcting childhood slights. At an early age, people were won over by his charm, his looks, his humor, his skill at fighting, and his last name. So, Lyanna’s complete rejection of him and his son is completely bewildering to him. 

Sometimes, he wonders how linked he and Rhaegar are and how it comes back to their similarities and their differences. It seems that he is always in his shadow and he is trying to accept it. However, as Jaime Lannister, he was taught to never accept anything less than first and he thinks he is starting to hate Rhaegar Targaryen. 

Jaime introduces little Jaehaerys to his little brother, his son. Rhaenys is there because she is always with Jaime and Jon. Often, he wakes to her in the morning, climbing in his bed with a kitten or a toy. Rhaegar may have given them his blood and the crown but they are his children to raise and love. Jaime Lannister might hate Rhaegar but he loves Rhaegar’s children. He is distracting the children, while Lyanna and her ladies, are helping her move to her new rooms. 

The Maester told her to rest and recover but she was eager to have her own rooms. Jaime told her she could have their rooms and he would find other quarters, but she stated that she wouldn’t make him move from the children. All this is going on and he is introducing the children with a smile on his face 

“This is your brother, Jon. Your little brother. “  
Lila has been preparing him for the baby and he uses his gentle two year old touch to hold the tiny baby hand. 

“Baby,” Jon says.  
“Yes.” Jaime smiles, “As the big brother, you have to protect him and keep him safe”  
Rhaenys is five and she asks “He is so cute. Can he be my brother, too?”  
She kisses his little baby face. He smiles, “Rhaenys, you aren’t his sister, but you can help Jon look after him. Lannisters are known to cause trouble, so it is good, if he several sets of eyes watching him.”

Jaime looks at Wade in the corner, “Wade, you can watch the lot of them.”

“Of course, ser.”

Rhaenys seems troubled by this lack of family connection, but it is a momentary thing, which fades quickly. Soon, they are talking and laughing and playing. Jaime has promised Jon a pony and lessons to ride and in the meantime, the children use him as the pony. Rhaenys asks Ser Arthur if she will give her a pony ride. Jaime watches him gently tell the Princess that he would, but Jaime is a much better horse than he. 

In a short time, Lila brings the children back to the nursery. The midwife has sent several young women to her to be a wet nurse for the new baby to Jaime’s father. Tywin inspected them and kept the best candidate, a young girl named, Meg. Lila tells him he will watch the girl with the young lord and make sure she is good with the babe. It troubles him that less than a day old and Lyanna will not feed him or has decided their baby can stay in the nursery with Lila, not sleep by her side.

He has watched Lila and seen the care that she gives Dany. She is loving and kind, as if they were her own children. Jaime knows she is more than a servant, she has become like his family. He sees her more than his own wife and he knows that she is now an essential piece of the Targaryen Lannister House. All the children look to her as a either a second mother or the only mother they can remember. When Dany hides in her hair, sucking her thumb on her hip, or Rhaenys runs to her when she hurts herself, even before him or Oberyn. He has seen Viserys give her flowers or show her the drawings of dragons and smiled at how she gathered the thin boy in her arms and told him that they were beautiful. His son will be safe with her, as well. 

Lila asks, “What will you name him, milord?” 

Jaime has no idea. He had thought he and Lyanna would have conversations about it, but they never had. “I will wait for my wife and we will decide together.”

She nods in a knowing way that servants do. 

“Of course, milord.” she says and gathers the children to the nursery.

He remembers Lyanna’s fierce and devoted love for Jon and it makes his stomach hurt to think of her disinterest for his son, his first son. Her second one. He thinks about all the stories he was told about how Casterly Rock had celebrated his birth. There had been a celebration for seven days when he and Cersei were born. For his first son, there isn’t even a smile from his own mother.

The first few days, he is bombarded with visitors to the nursery. His father comes three times, Cersei, Lysa, Viserys, Tyrion, Wade, At first, he is sure Lyanna will come back to hold her second child and their bedroom. But she does not come.

Benjen comes everyday to hold his nephew. On the fourth day, Benjen comes with a small wooden wolf and says he will get the boy a wooden sword when he can stand and hold it. Benjen is in awe of the baby. He is the youngest and has never had a younger sibling to hold. He is always smiling and commenting on how small he is. Jaime likes his devotion to his son and the gentle way he has about him. Jaime promises himself he will never ask Benjen about his sister.

As Benjen prepares to leave the nursery, Jaime breaks all the promises to himself and asks him,”Have you seen Lyanna?”

“Aye.. I have. I told her it was shameful for her to not hold the child.”  
“What did I do that she would hate me, except secure her son’s throne?”  
“Lyanna is difficult… Difficult to understand. In the North, they say she has wolfblood. She and Brandon were similar in this. They were opinionated, strong- willed, and stubborn. There are some who call her a centaur, half horse. I think there some truth in that, Jaime. Once she is spooked, it takes a long time to heal and rebuild the trust. Go slow. Use sweetness. It is the only thing that works...” 

Jaime promises himself that he will go slow. He will act like she doesn’t exist. He will forget about her and go on with his life. The Red Keep is a big place and he will never run into her. He will forget her. 

When the baby is a week old, Lyanna still has not come to the nursery and it becomes too much for Jaime. She sends for Jaehaerys everyday, but according to all reports, she hasn’t even held their baby or even asked about him. He names the baby on his own. Lila makes him one day while the other children are taking naps. 

She knocks on the door of his room and he yells to come in. She comes in, her hair in a thick silver braid and a simple lavender dress. He always wonders how she can be so rough so common and still she is beautiful. “Milord, you must name him. He is a good boy and he needs a name. The children have started to call him Baby. You don’t want your son to be saddled with that name. What will his knights and men think? Baby Lannister. “

She laughs gently. In her arms, she holds his son wrapped in a blanket. He looks at her and laughs, “You are right. I have been shirking my duties, just like Lyanna.”

He names him Jason. The boy looks like a Lannister and he will need a name that is a strong Lannister name. There have been dozens of Jason Lannisters in the genealogies, but his favorite is his maternal grandfather who led the Lannisters in the Battle of the Stepstones.  
Lila smiles as she takes his son. Her touch lingers on his shoulders before she collects the child. “Hello Jason. Let’s go back to the nursery. I am sure your father is very busy and we have gotten what we came for.”

Jaime wishes he had the strength to tell her that he is useless and that he does not have any work to do. His one job was making Jason and now that it is done, it seems that he is without anything to do. 

Unable to express his anger and trying to forget, Jaime starts drinking with Oberyn at night and playing cards with the Dornish lords. Oberyn teases him that he should go to the brothel and release some of his pent up anger. He laughs and drinks more. Jaime has never been with a whore, but he starts wondering if Oberyn is right. He feels as if he could kill someone with all the rage that simmers underneath his skin. Every night, he drinks until he falls asleep in a stupor to wake up with a headache and a dry mouth, but the rage doesn’t diminish and the hurt doesn’t get smaller.

On the fourteenth morning of Jason’s life, he can take it no longer. Jaime brings Jason to his mother’s rooms in the Tower of the Hand. Before Lila lets him take the baby, she makes sure he bathes and eats breakfast. When he arrives at her chamber, Lyanna and Ashara are eating breakfast with her and her ladies. She looks better in the weeks since he has seen her. Varys has told him she has not left these rooms. 

She stands up when she sees him and pulls her robe around her. “Jaime.. I did not expect you.”

Lyanna smiles when she sees he holds a small bundle in his arms. Her whole face softens and she sits in the chair “You brought him. “

Immediately, she holds her arms out. Jaime gently hands her the baby. Unselfconsciously, she coos and talks to the baby gently, as a mother should. She motions Ashara to come and look at how perfect he is. Carefully, she unwraps him and looks at his body, acquainting herself with his limbs and appendages. Lyanna looks at Jaime and he can tell that she can’t stop smiling. Their son makes her happy. She sends her ladies away and motions for him to sit, so that they can talk privately..

“He is so beautiful. What have you named the heir to Casterly Rock?”  
She looks up at him and he sees it, the love that she had for Jon is there for Jason too. The heaviness and hurt lifts. Maybe, she just needed to hold him, smell him, see all his baby perfection. 

“Jason... His name is Jason.”  
“That is a good name for a pretty boy.”  
“Why did you not come for him?” He has stood up and is looking down at her. “Why haven't you visited Jason? I swear he is nothing like me. I know you hate me, but do not hold that against him. I promise you the child has not wronged you in anyway, except that he is mine and not Rhaegar’s.” 

“I must apologize. My behavior has been terrible. I have been so mixed up for so long. I don't think I have had a chance to think clearly. I have spent the last few years so guarded, so unhappy. I wanted to come so badly. I wanted to kiss and touch him. I had thought if I didn’t hold the baby, the need to hold him would lessen, the love would lessen. It didn’t. Not at all. He is my son and I have ached for him. “

She kisses him and whispers something to the baby and kisses him again. “Jaime, he smells so good. I am not a bad mother, even if I make a terrible woman and a horrible wife. “

“You don’t want to love our son?”

“I have failed at love and have suffered for it, ser. I have started to think of love as a weakness, a place where you can be hurt, be ruined, devastated. I thought Jon was enough weakness for one life, but now it appears Jason will also be a soft spot.”

 

He leans into her and kisses her head. “Perhaps, you should let me worry about how no one will ever hurt or ruin you or any of the children. Then you can just love them. You could just stop being so afraid. I promise you no one will hurt you, as I breathe. I know this isn’t what you wanted. I don’t think you are a terrible woman… though you make a terrible wife” 

It is a lame attempt to make a joke at this difficult situation. She laughs a broken laugh and takes his hand and squeezes it. 

She looks at him, biting her lip, like she has something she wants to share, but she is unsure. Whatever it is, she does not speak of it. “Maybe we could be friends.. And in time..”

He wonders what his father would do and he does not know. He wonders what Rhaegar would do or Oberyn. Instead, he leaves Jason with Lyanna and says he will give her time as he exits the room. Jaime doesn’t want to give her time. He doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want him to be her husband. He has proven loyalty to her son in a thousand ways. In some ways, he even takes more care of him than she has. He has been patient and kind. Jaime knows women find him attractive and he is a fantastic fighter. He is the Lord of a great House, the richest house in Westeros. Jaime Lannister should have nothing to prove to Lyanna Stark. 

 

When he leaves her chamber, Cersei comes from behind him and takes him by the arm. “You shouldn’t try so hard to win her favor brother? Why try so hard?”

“Cersei, please. I am not in the mood.” 

“She does not love you. She told Selyse that she lied to you that the Maester told her not to bed you, but it was just that she couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand you touching her.” 

“That is a lie.” He says it but in his ears he wonders, if there is truth to it. Lyanna has pretty much told him that all she wants from him is time. 

“I will bring Lady Selyse to your room tonight and she will confirm it.”

By the time Cersei comes, he is stinking drunk. Being drunk is something he can do, quite well. In this new world he fought so hard to make, he can fight and practice. He can ride horses. He can raise and care for Targaryen children. Jaime Lannister can also drink well in this new world. 

Selyse stammers through the confirmation that Lyanna lied to keep him from touching her. Her maiden face bright red from the shame of talking about sex. “Lady Lyanna says she cannot bear your touch, my Lord. She says you are untrustworthy and she would have rather married Robert.” 

At this, he throws the cup at them and Selyse scurries away. Covering his eyes with his arm, he hears Cersei shut and lock the door to the hall and the nursery. He feels her lay down next to him, the whisper of silk being crushed by her weight on the bed. He tells her, “Cersei, I am in no mood to play children’s games with you.” 

Cersei climbs on his body and settles on his waist, her legs astride him. He grabs her thighs and trails higher to discover she has no underclothes. She kisses him hard and full of fire, grinding her body into his in a hypnotically delightful way. Cersei always wants to be in control, but not tonight. He looks at her finally, grabbing her wrists in his hands. “You want to fuck?”

She nods, face flushed and hair falling out of its elaborate style. Jamie pushes her off him and on all fours, fucks her hard enough that she has bruises on her thighs and bite marks on her body in the morning light. She whispers encouragement and tells him she loves him, “Do not be so gentle, my love. Harder.”

He knows she enjoys it as much as he does. She always wants him, always loves him. Perhaps, he should have married her, like the Targaryens did. Then, he would be happy with a woman who loved him. 

Afterward, she lays in his arms and tells him how good he felt, how perfect it was and how no one will ever replace what they have, not Lyanna and not Stannis. He listens to her, feeling her heartbeat, but his thoughts drift to his children, laying in the room next door, and his wife and why she hates him so much.

Once they start, Jaime finds that he craves Cersei. It is all need and want. He loves how her body feels and how it responds to his. He knows her so well. There is no awkwardness or anger. He finds he sleeps with her as often as they can. 

He spends his mornings being woken by the children. Wade tries to get to his rooms before the children, to help him wash the smell of wine off. Jaime has started wondering if Wade knows more and wants to make sure Cersei goes back to her rooms before morning light so that Rhaenys will not walk into Cersei in his bed. He eats breakfast with the children. He spars in the yard. Sometimes he goes for a ride in the city with Rhaenys. He sees Ashara come to get Jon and Jason, but Lyanna sends no word to him. He sends no word back. He has begun to work on plans for a small water garden in the Red Keep for Rhaenys. Sometimes, there are Small Council meetings that his father requires his attendance.

Jaime eats dinner with the children every night. After dinner, he drinks until Cersei comes to his rooms. He beds his sister in every way she desires. They couple over and over and he finds he never grows tired and his want for her does not diminish

Sometimes, as he lays naked with his sister's body against his, Jaime thinks he made the wrong decision years ago. In the predawn, there is the dried out feeling in his mouth and the dull ache from the wine he consumed all night and his regrets and uncertainties. He plays with the edges of her long golden hair. What if he had been too late to save Rhaenys? He would have never gone to Dorne and fallen into this Targaryen tangle. Cersei would have married Robert. He could have been Robert’s Kingsguard and slept with Cersei the whole time. Maybe Robert would have been a good King? Would he have made a better Kingsguard than a father?

When these thoughts start, he gets up and pours himself another glass.

He sleeps with Cersei every day including the morning of her wedding. Four weeks and they spend every night in his bed. Even when Stannis returns to King’s Landing for his wedding. Cersei swears they will never stop. 

Jaime is careful with her body this morning in the dawn. He takes care with his touches and his kisses, careful to leave no mark, to leave no trace. He promises himself that he has only violated his own vows and will do this with his sister no more after her wedding today. He hopes he is strong enough to stand by this vow. He makes each caress, each kiss a goodbye and when they are finished, he listens to her tell him how nothing will change and how much she loves him. Jaime is thinking about wine and the tourney tomorrow, hoping Wade remembers to check on his horse

The ceremony is at the Sept of Baelor. Most of the Stormlands noble houses have made it today. Stannis is stiff and formal. He looks nervously at Cersei. Cersei is making a show of it. Deep inside, she wants to show Jaime how happy she is with her husband. She wants the seven Kingdoms to be jealous of Stannis and his beautiful happy wife. Cersei wants everyone to know that she and Stannis are happier than Jaime and Lyanna. It is all a game for Cersei and Jaime drinks his way through the ceremony and the feast. 

He had watched her get up from his bed in the dark before dusk, she was smiling, happy. He had asked her why she was so happy to be leaving for her wedding day. The answer she spoke to him rings in his ears. 

“There are only two small boys, in front of my husband and the Iron throne. I could be Queen still.” She smiles sweetly, “So many things can happen to children.” 

 

Of course, he and Lyanna are in the same wheelhouse on the way to the Sept of Baelor. It is the first time they have talked in four weeks. They are in matching crimson and she is breathtaking, in her way. They wave to the crowd on the steps of the Sept of Baelor and the crowd cheers when he pulls her close and kisses her on the cheek. Lyanna pulls away slightly and looks at him, like she is trying to figure him out. He picks up Jaehaerys with his left arm and Rhaenys with his left. Both the children are giggling and the people are calling out Jaehaerys’ name and Jaime’s.

During the wedding feast, Lyanna is seated next to him. She eats very little. “Are you feeling sick, wife?”

“No.. it’s nothing..”

Jaime and Lyanna sit in almost silence by each other at the feast. Neither dance with anyone or even each other. On the night of Cersei’s wedding, after the bedding. He grabs a pitcher of sour dornish wine and heads for his room. He would like to get drunk enough to pass out before he thinks about Stannis hands on places only he has touched. His shoulder and his ribs hurt. The hall is loud and messy. He thinks about Oberyns offer of joining him and those three girls in his room. His mind hurts, his body hurts and deep in his chest there is an ache.  
He wanders to his room. He sees Oswell Whent outside the nursery and wonders if his wife has finally come to pay Jason a visit. He goes in his room and the door to the nursery is open a crack, the light spills across the room. He hears her before he sees her. She is sitting in a chair looking out over the city. She has Jason in her arms.  
“I am sorry I thought you would be out longer. I wanted to spend some time with him. I am sorry.”

He pours himself a glass of wine and wanders to the other chair, only slightly stumbling.  
“Stay. I am sure he is glad to spend some time with you.”

All his dark baby hair has fallen out, fine golden fuzz is coming in… I see he has Lannister green eyes. In fact, he looks entirely like his father.” 

Jaime laughs. “Wait. When he gets frustrated or concentrates too hard, his face looks like yours, determined, stubborn.” 

He pours her a drink and she curls up in the chair drinking cheap wine by the fire with him. When Lila comes for the baby, she is surprised to see them together drinking wine and laughing, but she only raises an eyebrow at Jaime. 

She tells him of how she hated being in the Tower and how she had wanted to send word, Rhaegar had sent word, but it had gotten lost. She tells him of how she regrets falling in love with Rhaegar because he was married, because she was betrothed to Robert. She regrets not being dutiful, for her impetuousness starting a War. 

She speaks of the prophecy hesitantly. Jaime is not the kind of man who believes in prophecies or fortune telling. Rhaegar believed their child was necessary for saving the world.  
“At the end, he would say it almost everyday… The dragon must have three heads. He thought Jaehaerys would be a girl. He told me I should name her Visenya. Before he left… Of course, he was a boy. Rhaegar never knew that. I was too young and I didn’t understand anything.”

“We were both fifteen at the Tourney of Harrenhal. Neither of us understood the game. Neither of us knew what we were playing at.” 

She looks at him. “You didn’t dance with me tonight.”  
“I would have but you seemed angry. I would dance with you now.”  
“Here in your chambers..We don’t have any music.”  
“We don’t need music to dance, my lady.”  
He stands up and pulls her to him. She giggles as he hums playfully. Lyanna places both her hands around his neck and he wraps her up in his arms. They are very close and swaying. This is not dancing, but he likes it better.  
Jaime leans into her and he can hear her sigh gently as she lays her head against his shoulder.  
“You are still the best dancer in Westeros.”  
“Who is the second?”  
“Probably, Oberyn.”  
He laughs.. “Oberyn says dancing is like making love.”

She looks at him and her eyes are bright and dark. He hears her breath catch. For a moment, he thinks about carrying her to bed. He does not think she would protest at all. Jaime remembers that Benjen told him to go slow. Instead, he pulls her closer to him and asks her a question, while his fingers trace the stays in her corset. 

“What do you long to do?” 

“I had a horse named Flint. Brandon brought him to me when I was ten. She was a good sweet pony and I loved her. Once I tried to sneak her to my room, afraid it was too cold for her. When she was with me, I could channel the wind, galloping over fields and streams. It was like she was a piece of me.”

“What happened to her?”

“I rode her from Winterfell to meet Rhaegar. I rode her all the way to the Tower of Joy. They teased me that my horse would not last. She seemed too slight, too small, but she was fierce and strong. She was sure and true. After Rhaegar left, I tried to escape the Tower. Ser Dayne took the horse away as a punishment and gave it to someone, or sold it. I miss her everyday. Sometimes, I swear I dream of her and she misses me. I want to ride again. In one month, the midwife says, I will be able to ride. But I long to ride Flint.”

“Perhaps, when you are able, we could go riding.”

“I would like that husband.”

Jaime kisses her and she responds, pulling her down to him. She tastes like wine and he loves the way her tongue runs over his tongue. Her hands are in his hair and he begins to kiss the exposed skin of her neck and collarbones. She starts loosening her gown and he runs his hands up her skirts to feel her thighs. He pushes her down in the chair and kneels between her legs. 

“Gods, I want you..Lyanna.”

At this point, everything changes. She pushes him away and stands up apologizing and flustered. The only words he hears is, “It is too soon. I still think of him.”

A flash of anger and jealousy flares up in his heart, “Perhaps it will always be too near his death.”  
“You know what is wrong, Jaime? What has been wrong all night? You stink of another woman. Her smell is all over you, your clothes, this room. At least, you bathed this morning or I would have tasted her when you kissed me..Did you fuck her in every possible spot in this room, every surface, every ledge?”

“Maybe I just want to fuck someone who wants me and not a ghost. I found out that you lied Lyanna. You made me wait for months, thinking I could hurt the baby, when all it was is you can’t stand me.”

Her eyes are angry, angry that he knows she lied, angry that he has cheated on her, angry for so many reasons. “I can’t stand you. I will never love you. I hate you.”

Before she leaves the room, he yells at her “Go, Lyanna. Run away and hide. Let no one know what’s going on in your head because that has worked out for you and the kingdom, so well in the past.”

She slams the door and Jaime sleeps well. 

On the day after the wedding, there is a tourney. Willas Tyrell enters the lists. Jaime thinks to himself that the boy is too young. Wade whispers to Jaime his concerns about his friend’s ability to hold a lance and steady the horse at only twelve. Both their fears are realized when the heir to Highgarden is pushed from his horse by Oberyn Martell’s lance and is taken off the field unconscious, with his leg twisted and broken. 

Jaime does exceptionally well in the lists and wins. He takes the token and crowns Cersei, the Queen of Love and Beauty. After all, she is his sister and it is her wedding tourney. She has always wanted to be Queen. Lyanna does not attend.

Mace Tyrell leaves for Highgarden, as soon as Willas wakes. He will be back after his son recovers. Oberyn tries to visit with the boy and make amends for the accident but the Tyrell’s will not see him.

The Bracken girl gives birth to a girl and Jaime breathes a sigh of relief that the baby won't die in its cradle. She names it Jocelyn. Both the Bracken whore and the baby get an invitation they cannot refuse to stay in King's Landing. However, Lyanna has gone to his father to ask if they might be allowed to walk the gardens in her supervision and with guards. He is certain his wife cannot bear the idea that she is being held in a small room against her will. It is a familiar tale

He finds out that Lyanna dismisses Selyse Florent. 

Stannis is an attentive husband and it appears he is very attracted to his wife. Jaime decides he needs new projects. He begins to look for a couple of gentle ponies, one for Jon and one for Dany. He speaks to Ser Dayne and he sends a messenger to Lord Caron.

Jaime gets approval from his father to build a small water garden for the children in the garden. Jaime consults tradesmen and architects and they break the ground. He has not spoken to his wife in several weeks but he invites Lyanna to come and look. She comes with Lady Ashara. He shows her where the water will fall on the rocks, the pool, the trees for shade.  
“It will be for the children in the Red Keep. I think I will name it Aegon’s gardens, after our children’s brother who died. I think Oberyn would like that.. What do you think?” 

He face that seemed enthused and excited grows pale and anxious, “Please, pick another name for this place.”

“Elia’s Gardens…?” 

“Yes, that would be nice for her memory. Thank you, husband. Elia’s Gardens.”

He thinks his wife be slightly crazy to prefer it to be named after Elia instead of Aegon. There is just another secret that Lyanna will never tell him.

By the time, Jason is six months old, he has a crown of white blonde hair and green eyes. By the time he is six months old, there are rumors flying that Lyanna Stark is bedding several men, Manderly, Dustin, even Ryswell. He doesn’t listen to rumours. But he knows his father does, as does Cersei. 

It is a fine day when he calls Lyanna to the courtyard. Jon and Dany have been riding their ponies. Jon is good but Dany is born to ride. She is like a Dothraki horselord with good intuition and skill on the back of her pony. Benjen has been working with them with Jaime. Jaehaerys is excited to show his mother all the tricks and skills he has learned. 

Lyanna comes down and claps delighted when she sees Jon and Dany on horseback. 

“Wade, get my lady wife’s present for me.”  
“Yes, ser.”

Lyanna looks at him quizzically. They have not spoken in months, not even cordial conversation.  
He sees her smell the air, as if she was a horse. After that night in his room, he thinks she might be. After all, how could she smell another woman on him after he bathed and changed his clothes? Wade brings a grey and white horse into the courtyard. 

When Lyanna sees the horse, she runs to the horse and the horse goes to her. She is crying soft tears. “Flint..” she says as she strokes her head.

Jaime gives the leads of the ponies to the Master of the Horse. He takes Jon off his horse and the boy runs to his mother and her horse. Jaime proceeds to take Dany off her pony and he walks over to his wife.

“Lord Caron told me that no one could ride this horse. He said she was stubborn and spiteful, strong willed and too smart for a horse. He told me that he did not think this was the right horse. I told him that it sounded like the perfect match.

Lyanna hugs him and he can hear her smelling him. She smiles and kisses him lightly.”Thank you Jaime.” 

Stannis brings Cersei back to Storm's End with her belly full. She tells everyone that they concieved their wedding night but Jaime wonders. By the end of the year, they recieve a message. Stannis and Cersei have their first son. Stannis has named him Steffon and it is said he looks like his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very long chapter.. I don't think there will be a chapter that long for awhile. Awhile back, I read a fan theory that maybe Lyanna and Brandon could warg horses... there is a little of that in here.


	9. Brothers  Part One 286 AC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! This chapter was sooo long. I split it in two. The other chapter should be done today or tomorrow.
> 
> Thanks for all your patience- Just so you know, the next chapter Lyanna and Jaime should resolve some of their animosity. 
> 
> After that chapter, we will finally get back to Brienne and Jaime-

Lyanna did not come back to his rooms, even after he brought Flint back from the Dornish Marches. He had started to believe that he had married a lady made entirely of ice. Bored and feeling slightly lost, he continued to drink too much. 

Word comes from Storm’s End that Cersei has given birth to a son. They have named him Steffon, after Stannis father. It is said that the child has the Lannister look, green eyes, blonde hair. He wonders on whether he may be the boy’s father, but pushes it out of his mind. After all, Cersei is at Storm’s End and the boy has a father. 

Lyanna still has not moved back in their rooms, but they speak now. They eat dinner together with the children. Once a week, they also go for a ride in the Kingswood, rain or shine. It is one of his favorite times of the week. There is something about being with her that makes him feel calmer. Somehow when she is out in the wild, she is more at ease, less guarded and less angry. When they are riding, she is easy to laugh and smile, flirt and tease. However, when they return they return, Lyanna always reverts to be guarded and angry. She doesn’t seem to understand that he hates it here as much as she does. 

Jaime doesn't know why he feels so lost. He has taken to fighting, drinking, teaching the children to ride. Jaime feels utterly useless. He started playing a Northern game with the Northern lords that remain in King’s Landing fluttering around his wife. called Sacks which has sticks for hitting both the ball and the other competitors and a sturdy ball made of pigskin. It is violent and brutal and he loves it. He loved the violence of it, the teams the competition. He loves smashing the bodies of the Northern men who drape themselves over his wife in the tower and on the field. Jaime Lannister orders grass to be laid in the Dragonpit ruins so they have a field close near the castle to play on. 

At night, he goes out drinking in the taverns of King’s Landing with Oberyn Martell and his men from Dorne. He feels like he is out of control but it seems he cannot stop himself. At first, he still tries to get up with the children. One morning he is late from a long night and Ser Arthur sends him to his rooms to sleep it off, saying he smells like the bottom of a Flea Bottom tavern. Jon seems upset that his father leaves before he watches his progress. It is humiliating but it was the right thing to do. After all, around his King and his son, he should not still be in his cups.

Wade comes to his rooms early in the morning to make sure he does not smell like the floor of a tavern. He always brings water and breakfast. Sometimes, Wade tries to shame him but he is beyond shaming. 

One morning, Jaime was late coming in and found Wade sleeping in his bed. At the moment, Rhaenys and Jaehaerys came in for their morning visit. When Lila saw him, red eyed and reeking of wine, she hurried the children out of the room after they kissed their good mornings and told him of their plans for the day. He remembers yelling at her for telling the children they must leave, yelling that they are his children.

Later, when he sobers up, he apologizes to Lila. Jaime tells her he did not mean to yell at her. She never lets the children in his room to wake him in the morning again. He misses when the children would wake him in his bed with their stories and their laughter. But now, he doesn't have to worry about being washed or ready to see them. Wade does not wake him to train in the yard. He waits until Jaime sends for him which gets less and less. 

Sometimes, when he is very drunk, there is a girl that works at the brothel that Oberyn and Jaime frequent the most, named Willow. She has dark hair and eyes the color of the lightest blue. Willow is small compared to him and smells like berries and sugar. Sometimes he will pay her just to hold him close and rub his back, while listening to the noises of sex all around them. Sometimes, she will tell him that he can bed her but he has no desire to do that. He just wants to sleep beside her. Jaime sleeps soundly there and he has no nightmares.

A few days after Jon’s third name day, Jaime is in a brothel, waiting for Oberyn. He might wait all night, but he has good wine and he has gold to pay for much, much more. Jaime overhears a table of men mocking Lyanna, smallfolk talking about the mother of the King, saying she is a whore who has orgies where the men dress as bears and wolves and rut about. It is said that both Manderly brothers have had her at the same time. They say that the Tower of Joy was so named because the Kingsguard all took turns with her. Someone says it is said the KIng is not Rhaegar’s son. After all, he does not have silver hair or purple eyes. 

Jaime Lannister cannot stomach it, so he stands, letting the crimson cloak he wears fall to the floor. As he approaches the table, one of the men call him Oathbreaker. The man, who says it, thinks that because Jaime is drunk he has forgotten how to use his blade. He has not and soon all the men at the table are on the floor, bleeding and dying. The Gold Cloaks come and find him there, the stepfather of the King and nod their apologies and send for a wagon to remove the bodies. 

After that, he wanders through the brothel until Oberyn comes to the hallway with a sheet wrapped around him.

Jaime says,“I want to go back to the palace. I don't want to be here anymore.”

“You are drunk. Come in and sleep it off for an hour and we will leave.”

Oberyn sends the attractive boy and girl from his room. Someone brings bread and meat and cool water. He is unbelievably thirsty and drinks until it runs down his face. Oberyn laughs and dresses. They talk for an hour. Perhaps Oberyn is a friend to him and he tell him of his fears that Lyanna will never love him and he will be stuck with her silence and her anger and all the hurt. 

Oberyn speaks, “Finding the horse that was taken from her would be enough for most women but your wife needs to know that you are safe. After all, your father ordered the killing of Elia and Aegon.” 

Jaime might be drunk, but he knows that this is a conversation they should not be having. He hears the hatred for his father in Oberyn’s words. If he hadn’t been so drunk, Jaime Lannister would have known to stop speaking or change the subject. Jaime continues, “No one knows that... When I first came home, I asked. He said he did not order their killing, just their capture and his men took it too far.” 

“Which men, Jaime?”

“I don’t know.. I was on the floor above them. I had found the Princess and I never went below. I knew it was too late. All I had was Rhaenys and Wade and there were so many men. I needed to protect Rhaenys. I dream about Princess Elia sometimes.”

He looked at him “I dream about Elia, as well. Every night I dream about her and her son that was murdered. Everyday, I look at Rhaenys I see her and think about my sister who is dead, about how she will never know her mother who loved her so much.” 

Oberyn runs his fingers along the edge of Jaime's jaw. For an instant, it is all the wine he has drank, the rejection from his wife, the adrenaline from the men he killed. Impulsively, Jaime kisses him. He has never kissed a man, but he knows Oberyn has. Oberyn is his only friend, the only one who doesn’t try to shame him or judge him. Only Oberyn knows him.

Oberyn pulls away laughing. “I think you are drunk, my friend. Too drunk for my taste.”

Jaime wants to argue with him, to prove he is not drunk and even if he is, he can still make decisions about who he beds. He is a man and the heir to Casterly Rock. “Pycelle... let my father’s men in. I was there in the throne room. Varys told him not to let Lannister men in but Pycelle convinced the King to let him in. He said my father was a friend to King Aerys, but Pycelle knew what would happen. Pycelle has always been Tywin’s man.” 

Oberyn looks at him, with curiosity. “You are very beautiful, Jaime Lannister. It is too bad you are so drunk. I could show you many things.”

Frustrated and angry and rejected, Jaime leaves the brothel and stumbles back to the Red Keep. When he gets there, he goes to Lyanna’s room. He realizes that he hasn’t even cleaned the blood from his clothes and he looks like a madman. But it doesn’t stop Jaime from going to wake her. 

Ser Oswell stands before his wife’s chambers. Ser Oswell looks at him critically and does not move to let him in her rooms. “White Cloak, step out of my way. I need to speak with my wife. I will kill you dead, drunk or not. If I fail, be assured your head will be on a pike, Good Ser. My father and our King will see to it.”

Lyanna comes to the door and lets him in. She has woken from him threatening the knight. Jaime realizes that he might be drunk and that this might be a mistake. The wine has clouded his judgement. He has spent the walk back here trying to figure out when the rumors that Lyanna was cheating on him started. It could have been because they have not shared a bed in a year. It could be that the Lords of the North are always in her company, in her court. Jaime Lannister is wondering who is spreading these rumors that they have gone so far that the smallfolk in Flea Bottom feel comfortable calling her a whore.

If only he could figure out who is spreading them, he could stop them. 

“Jaime, what have you done? You are covered in blood. Are you injured?”

“I killed some men who dared to slander my wife. They called you a whore. The rabble in Flea Bottom think they can talk about how my wife screws half of the North, but does not sleep with me. Come to bed, wife. Let us prove them wrong.”

“Jaime. Stop. I don’t understand... You are drunk. “

“They call you the Northern Whore, the Whore of the Red Keep. Come to bed, Lyanna and bed me well.”

He is tugging at her arm, when she takes her other hand and slaps him. Lyanna is angry, “You never have understood. I never wanted you. I never loved you, like I did Rhaegar.”

Jaime feels anger fill him and he is frightened about what he might do, “And you think I wanted you. You talk about being married off with no say, no right. You had more say than most women. What say did I have, except to protect you and my King, to protect Rhaenys. Gods, that I would love such a hateful woman. Do you think anyone would willingly marry you? The only reason Rhaegar put up with you was so he could fulfill his silly prophecy. Once he was done with you what do you think the Seven Kingdoms would have called you… You are a cold selfish bitch. Lyanna, I don't give a fuck who you sleep with.. Sleep with the entire Kingsguard- one at a time or all seven at once. “

“Get out! You are a monster, Jaime. Sometimes, you are all chivalry and honor and I think to myself that you could be someone I would be happy with. Then, the real you comes out from behind the mask. You have no chivalry. You are nothing like Rhaegar.”

“Finally, Lyanna, you are right about something! Rhaegar lost everything and I won it all. I am here raising his son and daughter and married to his wife, letting my father run his kingdom and he is ash.”

At this, he sees what he has done. Jaime feels small and too drunk, empty with his rage dissipating in the air. Lyanna is pale and crying. He takes a deep breath and tries to say why he is so angry, ”Lyanna, help me keep you safe. You don’t understand my father. They call him the Kingmaker for a reason. Don’t you know what he could do? He killed Rhaenys’ mother and infant brother to prove a point. You don’t understand what he is capable of doing, if he thinks you are not my wife in truth. He has Jaehaerys. He has me. He has Jason. You are unnecessary to him. Help me. I don’t want to see you hurt. We have both lost too much” 

Jaime wants to hold Lyanna and tell her that he will keep her safe. Instead, he leaves her crying and alone. 

Jaime goes to the nursery. Lila goes to stop him, “Please just let me sleep next to them. I promise I won’t wake them.” 

Lila takes him and makes him go back in his room and change his dirty clothes. She helps him take off his shirt, pulling his arms over his head, like he was a child. When he has washed his hands and face and changed his clothes, she opens the door to the nursery to let him sleep with his children. 

Rhaenys was sleeping in her own bed. On the table, next to her, was an old wooden knight and a wooden horse they had gotten in Tarth, years ago. In her arms, she held a stuffed cat toy. Daenerys has crawled into Jason’s crib and they are sleeping like brother and sister nestled near each other, like Cersei and he would sleep together. 

Jaime decided to lay down next to Jaehaerys, who celebrated his third name day a few days ago. Jon opens his eyes and smiles to see his father crawl in bed with him. “Da.” he smiled and held his little hands toward him. 

“Shh.. Jon. Go to sleep.” 

At some point, he gets out of Jon's bed and falls asleep on the carpet in his room. The next morning, his father, Tywin Lannister, wakes him with a pitcher of ice water over his body. Jaime wakes, sputtering on the Myrish rug he had passed out on. Squinting at the sun, shining in his window with a terrible headache, Jaime says,” Father, you have ruined the carpet. I think it was an antique.”

Tywin sits on a chair, “You are a drunk and a disgrace to your House. I received word that last night you threatened one of the Kingsguard while you were intoxicated. Then, you and your wife proceeded to have a fight loud enough to wake the tenants of Flea Bottom.”

Jaime pulled himself off the carpet and drank some water, rubbing his head. Tywin Lannister continued, “I have arranged for you to take your heir and go to Casterly Rock. Tyrion will accompany you. This will give you time to straighten up. No more wine. No more fighting.. Pull it together. Sober up and clear your head.”

Jaime does not have the will or desire to fight with his father. Perhaps, some space would make it better, would clear his head. He brings Wade and Tyrion. When he goes to take Jason, Daenerys starts to cry, so he decides to take her, as well. Lila will come with them in the wheelhouse.

Oberyn will not let Rhaenys go to Casterly Rock. On the morning he leaves, Jaime kisses her and Jon. “Be good we will be home soon. “ 

Rhaenys calls to him, “Bring me a lion cub from the Rock.”

Jaime smiles and tells her that he will see what he can do. Lyanna looks at him and kisses him on the cheek. Her voice is brittle, but gentle, “Be safe, husband. Return to me soon. We need to talk when you return.”

He touches his cheek and whispers,”I am sorry, Lyanna.”

 

She smiles and says, “Be safe. We will talk when you return. ”

Jaime finds that the fresh air of the road does him good. They stop along the way at inns and keeps. He stops drinking and every day, he feels clearer. Jason is walking by the time they reach Casterly Rock and Daenerys spends an hour riding with Jaime everyday. By the time to the Rock, Jaime feels clean. Tyrion and Wade have been riding alongside him, talking philosophy, history and science.

When they arrive at Casterly Rock, Jaime realizes how good is it to be home. He has not been home for a long time and he finds himself enjoying all the memories of his childhood and his mother. 

One day, Tyrion, Wade, and Jaime are out riding to an armorer who lives on the edge of the sea. A girl runs out followed by some men, chasing her to rape and ruin her. Jaime and Wade engage them. When the men flee, Wade and Jaime pursue to bring them to justice. 

When they return, after delivering justice, they find Tyrion and the girl laughing. Her name is Tysha and she is a small dark-haired, pretty girl. Jaime takes them to a nearby inn where they drink and eat. As it gets late, Jaime goes back to Casterly Rock to make sure Jason and Daenerys are well, leaving Tyrion and Wade to find their way. 

By the afternoon of the next day, he sees Wade in the yard, but not Tyrion. “Where is my brother, Wade?”

Hesitantly, Wade speaks, “He and the crofter’s daughter were enjoying each others company and so I came home alone.” 

Jaime does not think the girl would be the type to bed her brother at an inn the first day they met, but she did seem enamoured with Tyrion. Jaime laughed. “It is almost afternoon. Tyrion will be home soon enough. If I know Tyrion, we will all have to listen to his stories.” 

The next morning, Jaime finds that Tyrion still has not returned to Casterly Rock. When he takes Jason and Daenerys to the sea to play in the surf and find shells, he asks Wade what has happened and the story comes out of Tyrion marrying the girl. 

A few days later, Jaime goes to see his brother. Wade takes him to a small quaint cottage by the sea. Jaime knocks on the door and hears laughter. His brother opens the door and he sees Tysha cooking some stew over the fire. Jaime smiles and nods at the girl and asks his brother to speak to him outside. 

“Tyrion, you must come home. You must leave her and come back. Stop playing.”  
“I am not playing house. We are married. She is my wife.”

“What have you done, Tyrion? Are you mad? Father will never allow it.”

“Jaime, I love her and she loves me. No one else will have me anyway, even with all the gold of Casterly Rock behind me.” 

“Tyrion, I am sure she is a nice girl, but you don’t just get to marry anyone, especially not a crofter’s daughter.”

“Father is in King’s Landing and we were married by a septon. He might come around to it...in time.” But Jaime could hear the doubt in his brothers voice which was the only thing that made him think his brother hadn’t gone entirely mad.

“He will never come around to it, Tyrion. Take a few days, but you must put her aside.”

“I won't. Jaime, I love her and she loves me.”

“You are thirteen. You don’t need to marry her… For gods’ sake, put her aside and come home.” 

On the ride back to the Rock, he sees his father’s personal guard. as he rides into the yard. Tywin Lannister, his father, has come here to see if Jaime has been a drunkard and brought shame to Casterly Rock. Jaime can only hope his father will not wonder where Tyrion is until his brother comes to his senses and returns. 

The day after his visit to Tyrion and his father’s return, Tywin Lannister calls Jaime to his solar. At a table in front of his father, the drunk septon sits, sobered up and penitent, holding a small bag of gold for his trouble. Jaime despises the Septon and his smug red face. Of course, the septon has told the story of his indiscretion and Tyrion’s disobedience. Jaime tells his father what he knows of the story and tries to limit the damage and the rebellion. 

Tywin speaks, face red with quiet rage, “Jaime, I am bringing your brother and this whore to be punished.”

“Father, he loves her. She loves him.”

“It does not matter. Your brother does not get to choose his wife and he does not get to marry so far beneath him. Does he think to bring me dishonor at every turn? It is clear you have a great concern for him, Tell him she was a whore you paid… that this was a ruse or a trick that he has taken too far. If you love him, wouldn’t it be easier for him to believe you? I promise you, my way will be more difficult.”

“She will tell him differently.” 

“He will believe you.” 

“Father…” Jaime’s voice is hesitant.

“Do this for me, Jaime. Do this and I will not punish them harshly. I will go easier on him.”

“I will, Father, if it will be easier on them.”

A few days later, Tyrion is sent for to the Rock. Jaime tells Tyrion who fights back the tears. He imagines his father will annul the wedding and send her away. Believing she never loved him will be better; the hurt will be lessened. “She was a whore I paid. I paid her to treat you well, to make you a man, to bed you. I did not know you would fall in love with her.” 

Jaime sees the real pain on his brother’s face, the shame and embarrassment. For a second, he thinks about telling him the truth, but he dares not in front of his father. With a wave of his hand and a few words, Tywin dismisses Jaime, telling him that the wheelhouse is ready, the children, and their nurse are packed and ready to leave and Jaime will be going back to King's Landing today. Tyrion will be staying here on the Rock under the watchful eyes of his aunts and uncles because King's Landing has been a bad influence and has led him to think he can do anything he would like without his father’s permission. 

Jaime has a feeling of dread for his brother and his young bride, but he does not question his father. He does not stay and insist to watch his brother put his wife aside. Instead, dreading why his father would have had all this readied, he climbs in his saddle and he leaves Casterly Rock. Later, he will regret not staying. Later, he will regret the lie, but at the time, he had thought it best. 

Wade asks as they ride away. “Ser, is it true that we will all have only one true love?”

“I hope not. I think some of us can love more than one person in our lifetime.” Jaime thinks of Cersei and Lyanna and wonders if there is someone else in the world who might love him, not because he is their twin or because of duty and protection.


	10. Husbands and Wives part one 288 AC

Jaime wakes next to Lyanna. He could smell the roses from the gardens of Highgarden since they had left the window open to enjoy the temperate weather here. The strong smell of the roses in the morning air was something both he and his wife remembered that from their first time at Highgarden and they left the window open every night they had been here.Even in the early morning, the sun was shining in a cloudless blue sky and he wondered who the Tyrrells paid to have the nicest weather everyday. Beside him, Lyanna was a mess of black curls tangled in sleep. Her hair smelled like the roses, as she pressed closer to him in her sleep.   
He had been dreaming about a woman, warm and willing. She had been kissing and telling him how good he felt in her arms. He had woken hard with the back of Lyanna’s body pressed against him. Lyanna was smaller than Cersei, tiny in comparison, and she fit inside the frame of his body. Her small feet reached his calves, curled between them while she slept. 

 

It was the first time they had returned to Highgarden since they were married here three years ago. They had come here to formally betroth Jon to Margaery. Lyanna was unhappy with saddling her son with a future wife at four. Jaime had tried to explain to her that much could happen in ten years and things could change. The Tyrells had demanded it, pressuring Tywin to send them here to formalize it. After all, they were the first allies to the King and they had helped specifically to marry their daughter to the King. This was their reward for helping secure the Targaryen throne. 

 

Lyanna shifted in her sleep, pushing against him. Jaime smiled. They had been forced to sleep in the same chambers. It was either that or tell the steward of Highgarden that they would like separate rooms and confirm the rumours that they were not the happiest of couples. Tywin would not let that happen, so they slept together. They had not slept in the same bed, since those first few months in King’s Landing. They hadn’t had sex since they were here three years ago. 

 

The first night, he had tried to give her her half of the bed but he had woken to her pressed up against him like they slept together every night. When he had woken to his arm sprawled over her protectively, he had flushed and drew it back. With an apology on his lips, he tried to remove his arm but she had wrapped her arms around it and smiled. “There is no need to apologize. You are my husband, “

 

Lyanna had fallen back to sleep 

 

As the days passed, she seemed to enjoy being close to him. Yesterday, when she had woken, she had rolled over and touched his face, laying on his chest. He thinks she enjoys his company, finally. Perhaps, Highgarden is the most romantic place in Westeros and it has finally started working its magic on her. He does not think that is entirely it. Jaime has won her respect and her trust. Perhaps after three years, she finally realizes he is a man worthy of her love, regardless.

Lyanna had fallen back to sleep and Jaime had brushed all her curls out of his face. About three months ago, when Viserys was sick and dying, vomiting blood, poisoned, and the Septa had the girls, Dany and Rhaenys on their knees at the Prince of Dragonstone’s bedside, praying, in the dark, afraid that somehow the air was poisoning the heir to the King. Lyanna had been afraid, afraid for Viserys and his small child body, so frail and sick, afraid for her own sons. 

 

Lyanna had taken his hand and asked what she should do. There had been talk about sending her and the King to Dragonstone, in case it was the plague or flux. Jaime knew it was neither and that he had sent the threat away, dealt with the poisoner. He could not tell anyone because what he had down by letting the would be assassin go was treason. However, when it came to Cersei, he could not bear to imagine her head removed from her body, even though it seems she and he were entirely different people. Being apart had made them grow apart. She seemed to become more power hungry and driven in her bitterness.. 

 

In Viserys’ dark sick room, Jaime had picked up Daenerys and Rhaenys and said, “Let us let Viserys rest. Surely, that is enough prayers.” He had smiled at them gently. Daenerys, only three, had eagerly reached for Jaime and whatever fun lay beyond this room. Rhaenys seemed to be skeptical of it being enough prayers to make her uncle, but Jaime had already walked her out of the room by her hand. Jaime had led Lyanna out of Viserys sick room, “Stay with me, wife. All will be well. Let Viserys rest.”  
In the past year, there had been been many deaths and it seemed that the danger had finally brought Lyanna around to him. Below the surface, Jaime thinks Lyanna has finally started forgiving herself and growing. He has watched her body and the way she cringes when someone speaks of Elia or Aegon. He sees the shame and grief for all that her few moments of love at the Tower of Joy, all the death and pain that those stolen moments caused the realm and her family. 

 

Slowly, over time, he has seen her stop pulling back from Rhaenys. He has seen her fingers linger in the air by the Princess’ arm, never touching her. Lyanna knows the truth of it. She is not worthy of Rhaenys' love, her friendship, or her admiration. Yet, the little girl is drawn to her. Nonnie, Jamie's nickname for Rhaenys, waits around corners to talk with her, her face full of her smile and her black hair falling all around. Lyanna has started to teach her how to sew and dance and braid hair. He also thinks Lyanna might be teaching her how to fight. 

The Royal contingent from King's Landing was small, smaller than Tywin would have liked. It was Jaime and Lyanna, Jaehaerys, Rhaenys, Jason, and Daenerys. The Targaryens must be united, together, but Viserys was still too weak to travel. The plan had been to bring Daenerys and leave Jason and his guard. But they had cried when they were separated so they had both come. Since Lila had died, Lyanna had been more and more hesitant about leaving the children. If anything, he was grateful for that change in her.  
There were only a few Lannisters, only himself and Lyanna. Cersei was back in Storm's End. Jaime had sent her back after Lila’s death and Viserys poisoning, under the pretense that King’s Landing was too dangerous. Crying, she had told him she was pregnant said it was his child, their child, again. He had looked at her and told her that she was lying, that there was no way, but there was that one time. With her, he was always weak and when he sent her away, he hoped he would be strong enough to resist her the next time he saw her. As long as she was in King’s Landing, there would always be that weakness.

Tyrion was under lock and key at the Rock. Jaime felt deeply responsible and had wanted to say something, but it was over a year since he had talked or seen Tyrion. It seemed the damage was done and that Tywin might keep Tyrion on Casterly Rock for the rest of his natural life.  
No Martells had come and Jaime knew they had not been invited. The heir to Highgarden, Willas, would walk with a cane and a crooked leg for the rest of his life. Though it seemed the boy had no ill will to the Dornish Princes, his father, Mace, could not stomach them still. 

The Martells had been pushing for Rhaenys to be betrothed to her uncle, Viserys. Jaime had thought that was a bad idea and kept pushing back. Even before the poisoning, he had seen some paranoia and a cruelty in the thin boy. Jaime had tried to teach him to fight, hoping to teach him chivalry and by doing so, create empathy for the weak and poor. Viserys had no talent with a sword and though he was good with a bow, he had little interest in being a warrior. He seemed more taken with books and ancient lore on dragons.

Another issue with Viserys marrying Rhaenys was that he saw a melancholy and a great deal of self-doubt, in Rhaenys and Jaehaerys, like their father and their grandmother, Rhaella. With Viserys already showing similar traits of his father, he did not want Rhaenys to face the same future as her grandmother and so he would continue to push back. He did not have a daughter of his own but it felt like Rhaenys was his child.   
There was also the small matter, if Rhaenys married Viserys, would that make his claim to the throne greater. Perhaps, it might make Rhaenys claim greater. The kingdom could not stand another civil war and so he would continue to push back. 

Jaime has not told anyone, not even his wife, but he feels very responsible for much of the pain and loss they have suffered this year. It has been hard to think that he might have caused the death and sorrow but he has grown this year as much as Lyanna. He realized that though they call it the game of thrones; it is a serious thing. It is a matter of life and death of those he holds dear. 

 

As he lays next to his sleeping wife, he thinks on how he was responsible for much of the heartache and death of the past year…

 

When he returned from Casterly Rock a year ago, Lyanna, Rhaenys and Jaehaerys are there to meet him on the steps of the Red Keep. Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Oswell Whent stand to the side, always present and always quiet. There is someone there he had not expected to see, Cersei. 

 

Cersei has returned to be an attendant to Lyanna and be closer to her husband, who as Maester of Ships, rarely returns to Storm’s End. Near Cersei is a nurse holding a blonde haired green eyed boy that could be Jason’s twin. As soon as he has greeted the children and returned Jason to Lyanna’s arms, Cersei is hugging him in her golden dress that brings out the gold in her hair. “Brother, I have missed you so much. How was your journey to Casterly Rock?”

He smiles at her, but he feels the anxiety emanating from Lyanna and he finds it difficult to concentrate. Jaime wonders how much he has changed because Cersei is beautiful and there would have been a time that he only would have eyes for her. Instead, he answers her politely and looks to his wife to see if he can figure out the cause of her irritation. 

 

There are ladies’ maids, septas, and nurses, but there is no Lady Ashara. Her absence is obvious, but more obvious is his wife’s affection to him. Lyanna has come to greet him. 

 

She kisses his cheek and takes his arm lightly, pulling him close to her. Jaime scoops up Jaehaerys on his other arm and Rhaenys takes Lyanna’s hand. Lyanna speaks, like she is flirting, but he knows she feels threatened. He sees it around her face. As they walk into the Red Keep, Lyanna smiles at him and speaks intentionally loud, “I have missed your company, husband. You have been gone far too long. Perhaps I could come to your room tonight and keep your company.”

 

It sounds like they are sharing a bed but he knows she must have something important to say to make such a show of coming to her husband’s rooms at night.

Later that night, she comes to his room. She is pale and thinner than when he left. She speaks in whispers to him. Her story unfolds slowly in the hushed tones as she leans in to speak to him. He can sense her fear; it spills off her. Jaime is unsettled by it. 

There is much to tell. A moon ago, Grand Maester Pycelle had an ache in his side. Overnight, he started passing blood. By morning, he was dead. One Maester said it was a stitch in his side. However, Varys had pulled Lyanna aside and told her that it is whispered he was poisoned.

Her brother, Benjen, was called back to the North to be given a keep and land by their elder brother, Lord Eddard Stark. Soon after Benjen left, Ashara was called to Starfall. Lady Ashara is set to marry a Dornish lord. However, Lyanna feels that she has been sent away purposefully, to make her feel alone and to not have a true friend in King’s Landing. Jaime understands why she feels that way and starts to think on who has pulled so many strings and why, as Lyanna continues to tell her story.

Cersei returned to replace Lady Ashara with her son, Steffon, given his own rooms and play time with Jaehaerys. Lyanna speaks very little of Cersei and he sees how careful she is with the words she uses. Jaime thinks that she may have guessed at the secret relationship he has with his sister and Steffon’s true parentage, or he might be overthinking the situation. After all, Jason is his and Lyanna’s, so perhaps, Steffon is Stannis and Cersei’s boy. Sometimes Lannister blood must win out. Lyanna is right to be cautious around Cersei and see her as a threat. However, Lyanna does not ask him about Cersei. 

Instead, she reaches out for his hand and speaks, “ I have missed you. I have been so alone and afraid. I am glad you have returned. I need your help Jaime. We must keep my son safe until he is old enough to rule. In the North, they do not teach us how to manipulate or scheme. I feel like I am drowning.” 

Jaime looks at her hand. “Worry not, Lyanna. I am here and you are not alone.”

She smiles at him. He looks at her and he wants to apologize for what he said but he doesn’t think he can find the words. He knows that Prince Oberyn Martell is behind Pycelle’s death and perhaps Lady Ashara being sent to Dorne. He wonders if Tywin and Oberyn have made a deal. Jaime wonders if Oberyn is playing his father or is his father has a plan. It makes him feel sick in his stomach and his head ache. How can he tell her what he did, when he was drinking? He feels ashamed for trusting the Martells and his father. Jaime feels that he is unable to tell anyone, especially his wife.

Lyanna speaks and what she says surprises him. “I need you to find me a sword and some daggers. I need you to help practice with me using a sword. I used to be pretty good with one but that was years and two babies ago. I would like to know how defend myself and my children. I will not be defenseless, like Elia, if they come for me and Jaehaerys.”

Jaime thinks about what she says and agrees to it. “I will teach you, wife, but I think I will also need to teach you and me how to play this game of thrones. I have been watching other people play it my whole life. I think we must learn and learn quickly if we mean to survive. We will need more than swords.”   
That night, Jaime has nightmares for the first time since he left King’s Landing. He wakes up alone smelling burning flesh and wildfire. He sometimes finds himself in the nursery checking the children to see that they are safe. Silently, he thinks he will talk to Lyanna about moving her rooms to ones closer to him, so that he might keep better watch over her. 

Oberyn comes the next night to see if Jaime would like to go out with him and the Dornish men. Jaime laughs and says he has given up drinking. 

“I make a terrible drunk,” Jaime says. 

In the morning, Jaime is goes to the blacksmith at the Red Keep and has them make a small blade for his wife. When he gives it to her, her eyes light up and she laughs. He trains with her every morning. She was taught by her brothers and the Master-at-Arms years ago. They taught her to fight like a man twice her size, not realizing that her small size made her quick and light and gave her her own kinds of advantage. He finds the time they practice something he looks forward to it. When he can’t train Lyanna, Oswell trains her in his stead. 

He begins to start reading and thinking about who he can trust. While Lyanna gets physically strong, Jaime Lannister decides he will learn not only how to play this game, but how to win it for Jaehaerys and his family. 

Cersei approaches him in the hallway. He has seen her with Stannis. They appear happy but he sees her look at him with long glances and intensity. When she catches him in his rooms, she kisses him hard. He pushes her off, 

A few days later, Tywin Lannister returns to the Red Keep. He sends a message to Jaime and Lyanna that he requests their presence at a dinner with him in the Tower of the Hand. They eat a dinner of venison and wild rabbit, seated across the table from each other, while Tywin sits at the head.

“I have called you both here because I think my children have forgotten that I am their father and the Lord of Casterly Rock and the Hand of the King. I sense rebellion in my own house. Lyanna, let me tell you a story about rebellion and what I do to rebels.”

Jaime looks at his father and listens to how he crushed the Reynes and the Tarbeck rebellion. He hears the relish in his voice as he talks of the three year old boy and heir of Tarbeck Hall being tossed down a well. He has heard these stories his whole life, repeated in plays, songs, and tales, over and over, showing Tywin’s might and will. Jaime looks at his wife, whose eyes have grown wide. After all, Jaehaerys is three. She has never heard what Tywin has done and he sees the fear.

Jaime thinks about interrupting his father but he waits to see what his father is planning on saying next.

Tywin continues, “I deal with rebellion and dishonor in my own house just as fiercely, Lyanna. When my father’s mistress was caught wearing my mother’s jewelry, after my father died, I had her paraded naked and beaten for her insolence. Recently, my youngest son, Tyrion, chose to disgrace his House.. My House and my name by marrying a young crofter’s daughter, as if he had the right to marry anyone. The little wench thought she could use her body and her affection and win herself a ladyship. I taught them both a lesson. The marriage was annulled but for punishment, I let each one of my household guards have a turn with her and when they were done, Tyrion had a turn with the slut.” 

Lyanna grows very pale as Tywin's tale continues. Jaime reaches across the table and grabs her hand. “Father, I think we have heard enough.”  
At this Lyanna makes a strangled noise in her throat and Jaime takes her hand. “I paid the girl a copper coin for each of my men and a silver one for Tyrion. I am sure she never so as much money in her life. But the reason, I bring you both here is that I do not think Lyanna knows that I am a serious man and I mean serious things. It has been three years since you have been married and there is talk that you do not share a bed. I am not a man to cross, Lyanna, and unlike my son, I am not manipulated or played a fool. “

Jaime stands and and walks to Lyanna. He helps her up out of her chair and tells his father, “Father, I do not think we will be able to finish dinner. Also, you will not speak of the cruelties you may have inflicted on others. Lyanna is my wife and you will never lay a finger against her. She is the mother of my son.”

At this, Tywin stands and all the Lannister guards take a step closer. Jaime knows it for what it is a threat, but no more. Tywin will not hurt him, even for this disobedience.

Tywin speaks, “Then, if she is your wife bed her and stop this foolish gossip.”

Jaime gathers Lyanna in his arms,“What we do in our bed, is no concern of you.” 

“She brings shame on this house, even the smallfolk speak of her harlotry.”

“No, Father. she does not. There is already much we have all done to mar the golden shine of House Lannister. Lyanna is the mother of my children and the future of House Lannister.”

“There will be no future to the Lannisters if there is only one child.”

As they move into the hallway, she is close to him. He escorts her back to her room, thinking about what he should say, what he could say to lessen the damage of his father’s words. 

She speaks, “You called me the mother of your children. We only have Jason..”

He looks at her and touches her face, splotchy with tears and anxiety. “Lyanna, you are Jon’s mother and he is my son. You are the only mother that Rhaenys and Daenerys will ever know. You are the mother to the entire generation of royals. They are all our children.”

Lyanna moves her rooms to be closer to the nursery. Jaime assigns a young soldier he brought back from Casterly Rock, Sandor Clegane to watch Lyanna. Sandor is a big man with a hideously burned face, but he is strong and good with a sword. They begin to spend more time together with the children. She begins to spend less time with the Manderlys and more time with the children. Lyanna comes to the yard to see them ride, begins to teach Viserys and Renly sigils and history of the North, practices embroidery with Daenerys and Rhaenys, though Jaime thinks she is teaching them as much the histories of the North as the boys. 

The only thing Lyanna hasn’t done is come back to his rooms. One night, as he is sleeping, Cersei climbs in his bed. He does not know what she did to get past the guards, but she is naked slipping in his sheets. She is kissing him hard and she has taken his cock between her hands.   
Cersei whispers, “Jaime, I missed you so much. We should be together… please.”

In a moment of weakness, that he will regret as soon as it is over, he grabs her hair in his fist and he fucks her. When he is done, he rolls of her, his forearm covering his eyes while he steadies his breath. He speaks, “Cersei, please leave. Just go.”

He hears the self-satisfaction in her voice, “Don’t worry, Jaime. I will fix everything. We will be together.”

Jaime thinks about her words, as she stumbles out of his room and into the darkness. He wants to ask her what she means but he does not. Instead, he lays there thinking about all the vows he has broken and what kind of man he is. 

Lyanna still has the Lady Jeyne Baratheon as a friend. In fact, Lady Jeyne becomes one of her attendants and Jaime begins to see the two dark-haired women around each other constantly. Jeyne usually has Jocelyn, her daughter, in her arms. Jocelyn is a pretty baby of three with blue eyes and dark hair. One morning, the castle wakes to Jeyne’s cries. Jocelyn Baratheon is found in her crib purple and swollen. Grand Maester Farrow, the man who was sent to replace Pycelle, says it was crib death, but Jeyne insists that the girl was poisoned. After two weeks of intense grief, Jeyne throws herself from the widows of her room. 

Jaime goes to his father, apologetic and contrite. He asks Tywin if he will teach him how to lead, how to rule, and how to command. Tywin smiles and agrees immediately to allow Jaime to shadow him and to teach him all he knows. As Jaime leaves his father’s study, he has some regrets over apologizing, but now he can both learn from his father and watch him to see if he is a threat to Jaime’s family. 

When Jaime is walking through the gardens to meet Lyanna, he sees Viserys and Lila on the grass. Lila is stitching and Viserys is eating a fireplum. Jaime stops to talk with Viserys and see if he would like to practice archery in the morning with Renly and Wade. Viserys looks visible disinterested at the offer, but Lila speaks, “Thank you, milord. Prince Viserys would love to spend some time outside with some boys his age. He will be there.“ 

Jaime smiles at her, laughing inside at how motherly she was to him. 

It is the last time he speaks to her. Later, he hopes she knows how grateful he was to her for all she had done for his family. He also hopes her death was quick and painless. A servant finds them. Viserys bent over, in pain, vomiting. Lila was purple, swollen, and dead. Lila had taken to tasting the children’s food. Though Viserys is too sick to speak, it seemed apparent that Viserys must have spit out most of the poison, once he saw whatever they were eating was befouled. Viserys falls into a fevered sleep and the Maesters don’t know if they will be able to save him. 

Lyanna is terrified, but Jaime tries to calm her. He cannot tell his wife what he knows but he is certain who is behind this attack. He is sure he can disarm this threat. Jaime sends a message to his sister to meet him in the gardens. When she arrives, she is beautiful, in a crimson dress, smiling. Jaime takes her to an alcove by the sea for privacy. 

He grabs her arm, “I know what you did.”

“Why, brother, I don’t know what you are talking about?”

“It will only take time before they realize you poisoned the Baratheon babe and the King’s heir… No one cares about the girl, but Viserys is a Targaryen and the Prince of Dragonstone. You realize that your head will be on a spike, if they figure it out. “

“No one will believe you if you tell.”

“Cersei, I wouldn’t tell on you. I still love you. But you are very stupid.. Who has the most to gain from Viserys’ death? The list is terribly short, but it has to do with succession. You will be one of the main suspects. Does Stannis know?”

“God's, no. The stupid oaf with his honor would never do something as base as use poison.”

“I am sending you back to Storm’s End. It isn’t safe for you here.”

At this, she grabs his arm, “No, Jaime, No. I won’t leave. I can’t. I am pregnant.The baby is yours, just like Steffon.”

Jaime looks at her and touches her face, “The Gods must have cursed me to have loved such hateful women. You are going back to Storm’s End. You will not come back to King’s Landing or I will tell father what you have done.”

He walked away from her and he did not look back. Jaime wanted to look back, but he kept walking……..

 

...

Lyanna rolls over and looks at him, smiling, breaking his thoughts and his memories. “The Tourney and feast are today. Do you feel rested? Will you wear my favor, husband?”

 

He moves his leg so that she cannot feel that he is excited, “Of course, wife. I would wear no one else’s.”

She laughs and looks in his eyes. Her thighs brush against his and her eyes widen. For a second, Jaime thinks that she might kiss him. Instead, she rolls out of bed and starts talking about the festivities. 

At the feast, after the Tourney, Jaime sits at the High Table, by his wife and the children. He is sore in his ribs and his arms hurt, but he wants to celebrate all his victories. Earlier, he won the entire Tourney by defeating Ser Barristan in the seventeenth tilt. The last lance had struck the side of his hemet and his head had rung like a bell. Jaime was surprised he had kept his seat and his lance stayed steady, but both had held. Ser Barristan had taken a hit to his chest and tumbled off his horse.

It had taken two men to carry him to his tent. Lyanna and Wade had been there at his bedside when he had opened his eyes. Lyanna had his hand in hers, “Ser, you had me worried that you might leave me a widow.”

He laughed, “No such luck, my Lady. But it appears you will be crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty once more.”

 

She looked at him, her smile disappearing, and spoke, “Jaime I think that might not be best. Perhaps, Daenerys or Margaery..”

 

“Are you certain, wife?”

“Yes, husband, I think being the Queen of Love and Beauty once is enough for me.. “

When Jaime felt well enough to ride out, he rode out on his white horse and handed the crown of pink roses to Rhaenys. The crowd cheered. Lyanna clapped and cheered. Her smile was bright and Jaime thought that his wife might be the prettiest woman he had ever seen. 

The Septon at Highgarden presents the King and his betrothed, a pretty girl with brown curls at the feast. Mace Tyrell looks smug, like a man who has eaten a feast of his favorite food. There are jugglers, dancers, fire eaters and sword swallowers, but Jaime notices very little. He is very busy looking at how pretty his wife is when she is happy. Throughout the feast, Daenerys sits in Lyanna’s lap, playing with the red ribbons tied in her dark hair.

On the day after the tourney, they go for a ride. It is hot and Jaime finds he loves to watch her ride. Her hair flows backwards and it is a black sea that he wishes to drown in. When they come back to Highgarden, they must walk through the Labyrinth to get to the keep. The Labyrinth at Highgarden is between the first and second wall. The Labyrinth is both for beauty and to slow potential armies attacking Highgarden. Jaime doesn’t know how effective it would be at keeping an enemy out. If he ever invaded Highgarden, he would just torch it. 

As they walk along the manicured paths between the trimmed hedges and rose bushes, with walls of espaliered trees, Lyanna is flirting with him, teasing him about how she could outride him. They come upon a fountain with a pool. Lyanna ties her horse to a small apple tree. “Come, husband. Let’s go for a swim.”

Jaime looks around, wondering what Lyanna is preparing to do. She takes off her stockings, her boots, and her underskirt and lifts her dress up to her thighs as she climbs in the pool. Lyanna motioning for him to follow as she splashes in the pool. In a moment, he has taken his boots and stockings off and rolled his pants up. Laughing, he is in the pool. 

When he reaches her, he is not laughing. Instead, Jaime leans over her and kisses her. She wraps her arms around him and skates her tongue over his lips. The feel of her tongue is affirmation that she wants him, as is the way she holds him tightly. Jaime pulls away and looks at her, “Lyanna… ?“

She looks at him, “Gods, yes. Yes, Jaime. Please, yes.”

Lyanna pulls him back to her, kissing him. Jaime lifts her up in his arms, carrying her to the edge of the pool. The bottom of her skirts are soaked from the water and Jaime is all wet from carrying her. As he sets her on the solid ground, he quickly climbs over the marble to reach her. 

Lyanna Stark Lannister pushes them in the soft fragrant green grass. He is kissing her and she is kissing him. Her hands are pushing under his tunic to feel his chest and the bruised skin. It doesn’t hurt when she touches him. Instead, it burns him. Jaime is trying to get her dress off, but there are too many laces and ties. Somehow, he pulls one of her shoulders free and he is kissing her neck and collar bones. Her licks the tops of her breasts and Jaime wants to feel her back arch as he sucks each nipple until it is hard, but he can’t figure out how to free them from this dress. His brain is empty except for the desire to fuck his wife. She reaches to his breeches to unlace them and he is sure he will let go just by thinking of her touching him.

Finally, he lifts up her dress, “Forget it. I need you. I need you now.”

She speaks, “I need you more. husband” 

Flushed, Lyanna pushes him down and climbs on top of him. She closes her eyes, biting her lip, as he slides inside her. Jaime feels her hold her breath as he pushes upward, his feet flat on the ground. His fingers moving against the top of her sex to bring her pleasure. Moving together, she rides him like he was her horse and he finds himself mesmerized by how wanton and how lovely this small dark girl from the North can be. Lyanna comes against him hard, making noises that drive him wild, and Jaime follows quickly, breathless.

At first, Jaime is cautious. He is certain she will turn away or be distant. Instead, she kisses him, whispering, “That was wonderful.”  
She sits on the edge of the pool to put on her boots and he takes them from her. Kneeling between her legs, he puts her stockings on one at a time, his fingertips lingering at her thighs. She moans as he kisses the soft exposed skin and she speaks, “You must stop or I will have you again right here. We will never make it to the castle.”

He laughs and finishes lacing her boots. Returning to Highgarden, holding hands and whispering in each other’s ears, everyone at the castle notices how wet and dirty they are. Alerie Tyrell whispers to one of her attendants that Highgarden has worked its magic on another happy couple.

Lyanna comes to bed that night, naked. In the darkness, she takes his face in her hands, “I am tired of fighting with you husband. I am tired of being angry. I want to try love. Love me.”

Jaime nods and takes her command seriously, taking time to acquaint himself with his wife’s body. In the dawn, as the smell of roses fill his nose, he listens to her breath naked against his chest and he hopes she will remain this close to him, when they return to King’s Landing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some problems formatting this the way I wanted. Sorry for any confusion. Hopefully it will work this time. Thanks to all the folks who have been reading this.. 
> 
> I am super excited to write the next chapter Jaime and Brienne- not just because I really ship them - but because it will be nice to get a glimpse of all the characters grown. I have been struggling trying to keep the story short and have so many characters under the age of ten. 
> 
> But now that the history is finished, I am hoping to alternate chapters between the past and the current. We shall see.. Keep your fingers crossed that I figured out the formatting. 
> 
> Thanks


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